


Never Too Late

by Ardra



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-01
Updated: 2014-02-06
Packaged: 2018-01-10 18:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1163273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardra/pseuds/Ardra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five years ago, Duo Maxwell dissappeared from the lives of everyone that had ever loved him. Now he's back and there isn't much left of the Shinigami everyone used to know. It's now up to the other four pilots to nurse him back to being himself, or forever lose him to the darkness in his own mind. Eventual 1x2, 3x4 past 5xS, 5x?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Never Too Late  
By Ardra**

**Prologue**

_does this guy ever shut up?_

"And so, that is why I believe they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. You agree?"

Boredly, Duo looked back to the man who had been talking to him non-stop for the past he-didn't-know-how-long. He was a nice man, a little confused when it came to certain issues, and his views on the Gundam pilots were completely old school, to the point the American was wondering how the fuck he got invited to this party. He had to have known the Gundam pilots were going to be at this thing. Yet, this fat old man was certain that the pilots were still terrorists and should be treated as such. Never mind he was currently talking to one of thos esaid pilots right now. Duo wanted nothing more than to smack the man or just walk away from him, but he had promised Heero and Quatre that he would be nice to the people that Relena had invited to her party. No matter what they were like. Duo opened his mouth with the intent to respond as politely as his anger would allow but his words and his patients were cut short by the start of the firework's display.

**Whiizzz! BANG! SNAP, CRACKLE!**

At the sound, violet eyes snapped up to the sky as his body tensed, waiting for a blow or a shot of pain that would never come. All around him, rich nobodies cheered and drank under the light of the fireworkds, almost muting the sound that was produced when the gunpowder exploded. The old man who had been talking at Duo excused himself and excitedly took his date outside to watch the fireworks display better. Duo shook his head, knowing he was doing this so he could boast a little to his date and get a little lucky tonight, the man had lust written all over his face when he left.

It seemed like everyone was so happy now. The war was finally over; no one would have to worry about something like the senseless killing of their family members anymore, at least until the next war that would eventually break out. It was human nature to fight, to kill eachother for the sake of what little land or properties they owned. It's been a practice that has happened since the dawn of time and is even a trait shared by most animals in the Animal Kingdom. Good thing all of them were also considered animals, as their ways would seem barbaric in any other instance.

Everyone was dressed beautifully in clothes whose sleeve cloth was more expensive than some of the C4 that Duo had used during the war. Wonder if that stuff was going to become more expensive now that the war is over. Should he stock up before then? Looking around, he couldn't really recognize more than half of the people at this party. Relena's idea of throwing a party to celebrate the end of the last Eve War did not include people that she didn't know, so most of the people hanging aroun dwere dignitaries and politicans. Peppered into the crowd were old school mates of Relena's and a small cluster of people that Duo did somewhat recognize. All of them were equaly dressed in the before mentioned expensive clothes as they twirled around the dance floor in some waltz that was as nameless as the passing bird to the lithe American. One would think that being spun around like that would make someone dizzy but the people continued to spin, stopping only to cheer when another loud firework lit up the night sky.

Duo allowed a smile to stretch over his face, mostly because he was expected to do so around other people. It was his mask after all. He was suppose to be the one that always brightened up everyone else's day, or just made it something that they would remember for the rest of their lives. Another loud bang made the long haired man tense almost painfully. Despite the fear of the loud noises the entertainment caused, Duo actually liked fireworkds. He loved the way they contrasted to the paleness of the moon and seemed to almost offset it. the man on the moon seemed to have hair when one would go off or he had a mustache, depending on which way the sparks fell. there was nothing like this on the colonies. The moon was so dead looking, like someone had set a bomb off on it and allowed the whole thing to burn to the ground.

It also didn't help that something like fireworkds weren't allowed on the colonies. they were basically just fire in the sku, and with the colonies being enclosed spaces floating above the Earth Sphere, you are liable to set the whole place of fire if you weren't careful. It was amazing what Earth was allowed to do. Honestly, before tonight, Duo had only ever heard of fireworkds. He had never seen them, the cloest thing he could thing to compair them with was how the bombs looked when they exploded out in space, only the bombs weren't as pretty as the little colorful lights that were here now.

Shaking his head, Duo cleared his thoughts of the colonies, and tassled his jagged bangs that framed his face. He turned on his heels, smirking when they made a squeaking noise with the movement, and headed back into the party. He wanted to find the other pilots and 65talk to them. All the people at the party were starting to make him feel a little closed in, not to mention on edge because he was sure, even more so now, there were people here that would love nothing more than to cut down a Gundam pilot.

Upon entering the large room where most of the party was held, his breath caught in his throat painfully when he noticed that almost everyone stood in huge groups talking to each other. If there was one thing the war did to him it was make him a little nervous when it came to large crowds. He closed his eyes a second, steeling his nerves, and started to make his way through the people. He had spotted Trowa on the other side of one of the larger groups and made to take a straight shot to him. He used every trick that he knew of to avoid touching anyone, or drawing any more unwanted attention to himself. He kept his arms close to his chest, side stepped when people casually turned around and almost bumped into him.

One last shift of his body and Duo finally broke out of the last group of people. He turned, looking at what he'd just gone through and allowed himself to breathe a small sight of relief. All these people were clustered together so tightly, it was hard to believe that during the war, none of these people would have been caught dead around the other. truthfully, even thought he smiled on the outside, on the inside he felt a surge of depression when ever he thought about the fact he would never have to fight again. Never again would he be able to just take Deathscythe into battle and use him to do what was needed to survive.

He would have to be a normal person now. Someone who acted their age. What was a normal person anyways, let alone one that acted what his age was, or what he figured his age is. Was it someone who held down a steady job, purchased a nice, big house, car, a dog, married soemone, popped out a couple kids, watch the kids grow up then just fade away? What kind of an existance was that? It seemed like a pretty poor way to leave if you asked him. He didn't like what he just made himself think of one little bit.

Dismissing the thought, he turned and slipped up next to his target. One Trowa Barton, the ex-pilot of the Gundam Heavyarms. Violet eyes looked up to the slightly taller brunette. Trowa was a good head and a half taller than Duo was. Most people would be embarassed or upset that they were shorter, but the long haired male knew that Trowa was a couple years older than the rest of them. He wondered what would happen to this man now that the wars were over. He'd always been a quiet person, never really seemed itnerested in what was going on around him, yet he was so painfully alert to anything and everything around him. He'd never met anyone who could be so in tune with a conversation yet have absolutely no interest in what the people were saying.

The European male could tell you what the people he was listening to were talking about, and even sometimes spout out what they had said, but he couldn't tell you who said it at the time, unless he thought that it was a vital piece of information that he would need later on. He knew that this skill was something that would be rarely used now that the fighting was over. His appearance in itself was odd, but then again, Duo couldn't really point fingers at other people as he reached behind him, taking ahold of his extremely long braid of hair. compaired to him, Trowa's hair was the latest and greatest style. he had it trimmed militaristically in the back of his head while his bangs were allowed to grow out and cover one half of his face. It always seemed to give him an air of mystery.

A flash of blond hair broke Duo out of his thoughts and drug his attention to the crowds, spotting what had caught his eye. It was Quatre, trying to force his way through the crowd that seemed to be compacting around the blond. One wrong move, he stumbled a little and was almost swept away in the current created by the shifting of bodies, but Trowa reached out, grabbed ahold of the smaller's wrist and pulled him close to himself. His hand on his shoulder in what was obviously a protective gesture. Duo didn't even try to suppress the knowing smile that spread over his face. He now knew this was how Trowa was going to be able to blend into society. He would be the one that the famous Winner heir wouldn't let out of his sight. They would be together all the time. No one was going to be able to seperate the two of them now that they have found eachother amungst the fighting and death.

Nah, Trowa wasn't going to have any trouble in society now that he had Quatre watching his back for him. The lithe American watched as Quatre smiled appreciatively at the one who had saved him, their hands lingering on each other a little longer than neccessary before they both parted and turned to Duo. He was grinning at the two of them like the Cheshire Cat with a mouse. Knowing what he was thinking, the heir blushed at his obvious displa of effection towards Trowa, but the ex-Heavyarms pilot didn't look like he understood the meaning behind the look he was being given. Duo knew that he did know what it mean and he was just playing it off so that he wouldn't further embarrass his smaller lover.

Seconds trickled by in silence until Duo couldn't stand it anymore, "You almost got swept away there, Q. You should be more careful. What's up?"

"Yeah. I was listening to someone talking about the new policies of the regions and now that I'm away from those vultures, I can finally breathe without feeling like I'm about to have a panic attack. People are way too touchy. Can you believe that this is all over?" he asked, looking around at the bodies in the room.

"Kind of." Duo murmured softly, smiling as he glanced around the room, his instincts were on fire tonight. He felt on edge all of a sudden and it unnerved him a little.

If Quatre felt as uneasy as he did, he didn't show it as he tilted his head at Duo, "What are your plans?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. I probably should go up to L2 and see if Hilde needs any help with the scrap yard. I might go and do a little spelunking before I settle down. i guess I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up before I actually go to do it."

"You're going digging to find out what you want to do with your life?" asked a new voice but one that Duo recognized all the same as a wicked smirk stretched over his face.

He turned to see Wufei standing behind them. The Chinese man was wearing a nice, white button down shirt that was complimented by the black pants he wore snugly on his hips. His tanned arms were folded over his chest to avoid touching other people as he looked thoughtfully at 02.

"Not digging. Exploring. Maybe take a few trips around the world, go to the different colonies. Just to see what I can do, and what I want to do for a living before I settle down." Duo said, smiling to Wufei before leaning forward, hands firmly on his hips like a school girl telling another a dirty little secret, "Besides, not all of us want a nice cushy job in Preventers, and a nice girl that we're going to marry."

The former Shenlong pilot balked at the last comment, "Maxwell! No one was supposed to know about that!"

Quatre's eyes lit up and grew to the size of saucers as he turned his attention from Trowa to Wufei, "You proposed to Sally?" he asked giddily, leaning a little closer to the taller male beside him.

"I did nothing of the sort... Yet." Wufei mumbled the last part so that barely anyone heard it but Trowa and Duo did, making the impish grin on the American's face grow even wider but before Wufei could go on a rant about the x-Deathscythe pilot's immaturity, Quatre wisely decided to change the subject.

"What are you going to do, Trowa?"

The clown looked rather emotionlessly around as he rolled one shoulder in a shrug, "I don't know. I will probably catch up with Catherine's circus and rejoin it." he said, his tone was dimissive and stand-offish, a sign that the young man had no idea what he was going to do with his new found freedom.

"Where is Yuy? If that ass skipped out on this thing and left us to deal with the hoopla and shinanigans, I'll skin his ass for a coat."

Quatre made a choking noise, blushing deeply as Duo burst into loud laughs, holding his stomach as his body shook from the heaves of breath he was taking. Wufei seemed to realize what he said and turned a bright shade of pink that normally would be impossible for someone with his complexion. Quick to remedy the situation, the blond heir spoke fast, "He's with Relena. Making sure that nothing happens to her."

Swallowing hard in embarassment, ebony eyes turned to the head of the party. Duo looked, too, and fell into a new fit of supressed laughter. The Japanese boy was trying almost desperately to get the former Queen of the World to sit down but it was all in vain as every time the ex-Wing pilot let her go, thinking she would stay seated, she would just get back onto her feet an dmove to talk to someone else, sloshing around a glass of champagn that was precariously perched between the dainty fingers of her right hand, while having a death grip on Heero's shirt with her left.

"She doesn't seem to be taking the end of the war as well as everyone else." Quatre murmured in a soft voice.

"Or she's taking it too well." was Trowa's curt addition to that sentance.

"Well, so much for being rid of her." Duo muttered to himself, still chuckling but his good mood was cut short when an older, bald man in a black and grey pin-striped jacket stepped before them, a glass of amber brandy and a half smoked, horrid smelling cigar in his right hand, while his left hand was discretely tucked into the pocket of his horribly ugly jacket. His face and eyes gave away his obvious Asian heritage as well as the slight tan coloration in the visible skin of his hands and face.

"Are you the Gundam pilots?" he asked them, sounding only vaguely interested in the answer to his own question.

Quatre gave the man an unsure smile, nodding his blond head. Trowa stepped in front of him protectively and the small blond did nothing to try and stop him. The clown's normally emotionless or bored face was hardened into a look that could only be discribed as a non-verbal threat not to try and harm what he was protecting. Duo almost breathed a sight of relief that he wasn't the only one slightly started by this man's sudden appearance before them. Wufei let his features school themselves into pilote indifference as he nodded to the man in conformation that they were, indeed, the Gundam pilots. Well, most of them. The last of their little group was still a little preoccupied with the pink princess to be bothered witht he four of them.

"I've read a lot about you all in the paper, but... isn't there suppose to be five of you?"

Quatre gave the man a small smile, trying to be polite to one of Relena's guests, "Heero's a little indisposed, but we're here."

"I see. You must be Quatre Winner. I knew your father. Good man. A little bit of a hard head when it came to political views, however."

The small arabic young man's jaw clenched with bit back anger at the insult to his late father, "Pardon me, but I do not recall you in any of my Father's meetings, nor do I know your name." Yeah, Quatre wasn't a happy little blond right now.

"My name is unimportant right now, it's just a formality and we're beyong those by now, aren't we?"

"How are we going to know what to call you if we don't know your name?" Duo asked defensively, shifting his weight just in case. In case of what he had no idea, but it was better to be prepared.

The man chuckled, putting his brandy in his left hand, taking a drag of his rancid smelling cigar. After filling his lungs with the smoke, he let out a piff of it into the hair that lifted up to the ceiling to get lost with the rest of the smoke in the room made by others that were allowed to smoke inside, "My name is Maxwell Yong. I'm sure you don't know anything about me, but I know all of you. So that's beyond the point." he turned to Duo and gave him a crooked smile, "You are Duo Maxwell, are you not?"

Duo plastered his fake smile on his face, the mask of the Joker now etched on his features, "Sure am. You know much about me?"

"I've read a lot about you. Matter of fact, I was just reading an old report on you. To think, boys as young as yourselves were labeled as armed and deadly terroriests throught out most of the war. You all should've been in school, getting educations, chasing women through the halls."

"Some of us are educated enough in our endeavors both as these so called 'terrorists' and life before we became what we are." Wufei said, starting to relax a little when it didn't look like the man was going to attack any of them at any point.

"I mean no offense, really. I'm just a little surprised how young you all are." Maxwell said before he turned to leave their presence, "Excuse me, please. It was nice to meet the four of you."

With that, he disappeared into the crowd of people, leaving the pilots where he'd found them. Duo strethced his arms over his head, curling them at the base of his skull in a rather lazy pose, his violet eyes not leaving the man's bald head until he was far away from them then looked to the other three, "Now I see why Heero hates these things. Pushy crowds and creepy people."

"He was just trying to be friendly." Quatre offered with an unsure tone in his voice.

"I suppose. Well, I'm done with this monkey suit that I've been placed in."

"You're just wearing pants and a shit. how does that add up to a monkey suit?"

"It's WUFEI!"

"I'm going to my place and crash. I've got an early shuttle out to L2 in the morning." Duo said as he pulled Quatre in for a hug.

"Already?" the blond squeaked as he was hugged tightler than he was used to.

"Yeah. Don't want to keep Hilde waiting, no? She'll have my balls for breakfast."

Duo chuckled evily when Wufei choked on whatever beverage he had snagged from a passing waiter with a tray, "Damn it, Maxwell! Can't you ever say anything decent?" the irate Chinese boy frowled as he got a napkin and wiping his face where his drink had decided to return to the surface.

"Regardless, I need to get going."

"When is your flight?" Trowa asked as he rescued the blond from Duo's grasp by prying his hands from around the smaller form and pulled him to his own body instead.

"Around ten. Give me a call before then, will ya? I don't know when you'll have a moment's peace once you start on your Winner duties."

"Sure. "Quatra said with a small but sad smile to his friend, the ex-Deathscythe pilot only received slight nods from both Trowa and Wufei.

Duo turned to leave before he stopped and turned to them, "Oh! Tell Heero to give me a call if he can ever get Relena under control." He said before he waved to them, making his way out of the party by keeping to unoccupied walls until he was outside of the stately mansion.

When he finally got out of the party, he took a deep, happy breath of fresh air, glad to have been finally spat out by that little shindig. He lifted his head, gazing at the stars that were so far away now. He smiled ruefully at them; soon he would be back amongst them, another rat gnawing on the beauty that was those stars, and a few satellites. He shook his head as he began to walk down the street. It felt a little weird to be able to walk down the street and not have to worry about hiding his appearance, hair, his Gundam, his gun, or anything else that could've been used to cause acts of terrorism. It was odd for him to be able to walk so freely now, when just a year, give or take a few days, ago, he wasn't even able to go to the store without causing a scene.

Truthfully, it was nice to be able to do things like this. It sort of makes him feel like a real person. He rolled his shoulders, letting them relax as he settled back into the feeling. The freedom was amazing. He felt like he could do whatever he wanted without having to report in to anyone but, in the same breath, he felt trapped in this new world. He had no idea what he was going to do with his life, and one thing was for sure, he couldn't stay with Hilde forever. The woman already had this crush on him that she believed that he could do no wrong, and as much as it hurt him to do so, he would have to tell her the truth about his sexuality eventually. That sentence even sounded too harsh, he couldn't do that to her.

Despite her love for him, she was a good woman and didn't deserve to have her heart trampled on like he was probably going to do to her. It killed him to have to do it, but he couldn't keep leading her on like he had been doing before. Well, it wasn't really leading her on, but it felt like that was what he was doing to her because he hadn't told her the truth yet, and at this point, he knew it was going to crush her.

As he mused on these thoughts, his body began to tense and his instincts were telling him that something was wrong, or some wrongness was going to happen soon. His instincts have served him well so far in his life so he wasn't going to write off what he was feeling. He straightened up, rolling his shoulders back in preparation of a fight happening and stopped walking in midstep. He hardly even breathed as he listened closely to the night. He could still hear the fireworks being set off and it was messing with his hearing a little bit, as long as the cheers and applause of the diplomats at Relena's party.

The lights from the colorful explosions made his body cast many colored shadows before him, but he didn't see anyone else's shadow. Slowly, he looked over his shoulder, but there was no one there. There was no one on the streets, and it didn't sound like there was anything going on in the alleys he'd just passed. He took a deep breath, trying to relax once more as he dismissed the feeling as something moving when it wasn't supposed to. It could've just been someone opening their door, or their window that set him off. That was bound to happen often until he could squash down his soldier instincts. He smiled to himself before starting to walk again, dismissing the feeling as nothing.

He didn't make it seven steps before the feeling came back again, this time worse than ever. Instead of a little tug telling him that something was wrong, his stomach plummeted a good twelve inches into his gut. The few short hairs he had on the back of his neck stood on ends, screaming in fright. His body tensed, his fingers itched to go for the gun he didn't have, a hot feeling formed in the back of his head, making him want to scratch at it. His heart began to hammer in his chest, making it difficult to not breathe as his ears strained to listen, to figure out what was setting him off. Duo heard nothing. He spun around and gasped loudly, moving to pull away but he was too close already.

Duo twisted his body around; making a strangled lurching sound as the collar of his shirt was snagged, preventing him from being able to run for it. Being drug up by the man who had somehow snuck up on him, he was able to get a better look at the man. He was a big one that was for sure. He'd met Rashid, a friend of Quatra's and leader of the Maganac Corp. once before but this man had to be a little taller than that man, which was saying something as Duo thought Rashid was huge.

This man was wearing a suit and tie that were expertly pressed and tailored to fit his huge body. He had no hair on his shiny head and a pair of glasses shone in the fireworks that hid his whole face from the American. He reached up, trying to get at the man's wrist, but it was even bigger than his hand; he couldn't get a grip on it. He felt the other hand come up and grab a hold of his much smaller wrists and wrench them the wrong way. His back arched in pain, his mouth opened to cry out but he bit down on his tongue to keep from doing so, he knew that screaming or showing any form of pain was probably what this man was looking for and he didn't want to give him the satisfaction of hearing his weakness.

The hold on his collar relaxed, and Duo crumpled to the ground, gasping as pain shot from his shoulder blades down his spine as he was bent forward by the hold the person still had on his wrists. He moved to get to his feet to get to a better stance so he could mule kick the guy in the legs or groin but he misjudged how big the guy was and only got his lower legs, his shins, which only seemed to piss him off even more than he already was.

The free hand grabbed him by his neck and lifted him off the ground, releasing his arms and letting them fall back into place, much like how a rag doll's arms would return to their proper positions after being let go. Duo gasped softly as he felt the muscles pull. They would be bruised in the morning, but they weren't broken, which he was grateful for. He didn't want to have to pull a Heero and pop his arm back into place.

He almost smiled to himself for what he believed was the man's stupidity for letting go of his wrists. He reached up, lacing his fingers around his wrist and pulled his neck backwards and out of the brute's grip but his victory was short lived as the monkey suddenly tightened his thick fingers, clamping down on his airways, making him gag, gasp and loose what momentum that he had gained from his move.

His body fell back straight, his hands reached up to the fingers, trying desperately to pry the fingers away, but they weren't going to budge at all. Instead, like a lizard that was biting on something, every movement made his captor's grip tighten more and more on his bruising throat until his vision started to go black. He barely saw a black car pull up to them and the rear door opened.

His vision darkened more as the person who got out walked over to them, as if sizing the two up. Weakly, Duo tried to ask for the person's help but his voice failed him as well as his vision. The last thing he heard was someone telling him that struggling was pointless and he should just welcome the darkness threatening to consume him. Despite wanting to go against these words, the long haired male found himself in darkness sooner than he expected as he blacked out.

Duo woke much later, or at least he thinks it was much later. He groaned softly as he sat up from the mattress that was just sitting on the floor of his dank little room. He rubbed at his aching head before coughing into his other. A few splatters of blood littered the pale skin before Duo rubbed them away into the cot. He swing his legs over the edge, not surprised to find that he could probably sit on his knees and still be higher up than this mattress, and looked around.

The little room looked like it was made entirely of concrete, even the ceiling seemed to be made out of the heavy shit. There was a small pot in the corner that was held up by a pipe that went down into the floor. The only light in the room came from a small bulb that hung bare from the ceiling above the middle of the room.

Getting to his feet, Duo spotted the door. It was cut out of the concrete and put on hinges so that it would swing. He was only able to see that it was actually the door because there was a tiny dog flap built into the bottom of it. Looking only slightly big enough for a cat to slide under. There was no door handle on his side, nothing that would indicate that he could open the door, or that it was locked in any way. Slim legs carried him to the door and he bent down, reaching through the doggy door slightly, he grabbed the edge of the cut out and tested the door.

There was a metallic thunking noise when he pulled, signaling that the door was, indeed, locked. Duo was about to pull his hand away when a harsh jolt of electricity ran up his arm and made his back arch. He pulled his hand away, gasping slightly as he looked down at the twitched appendage, and the now burnt tips of his fingers. Now angry, he glared at the door before he got to his feet and began to pound on the hard material with both fists.

"Hey! HEY! Yo, ass wipes! HELLO! HEY!" Duo called as he beat his hands on the concrete as hard as he dared to go so he wouldn't hurt his hands too bad, just in case he would need them to make his escape.

The door didn't budge and seemed like nothing was going to happen before there was a loud humming noise. Duo tried to pull away from the door, but it was too late.

"AAAUUUURG!" he screamed before he felt as if he were thrown from the door and landed on the floor with a hard THUD! His muscles twitched, causing his body to almost convulse as he gasped for breath, his eyes wide and staring at the offensive light bulb that shined innocently down on him.

Duo faintly heard the sound of the door unlocking, a few tumblers being tripped then the concrete door sliding, or scraping rather, over the concrete floor. Idly, he knew he should use this opportunity to escape, but his body was still twitching and he knew that he couldn't run from this place, even if he wanted to. Not after being electrocuted like he had been. He blinked a few times, trying to clear the spots from his vision before someone loomed over him, and hands in their pockets, unknown colored hair hung in the face like a curtain.

"You mind? You're blocking my sun." Duo said his voice a little scratchy, even to his own ears as the man tilted his head questioningly at him.

"Welcome, Mr. Maxwell. I trust that you've found the door all right."

"Yeah, I did… It doesn't seem to like being hit." Duo coughed once before he moved his arms, pushing his body into a sitting position as the man in the room walked around him to be facing him.

Now that he could see properly, Duo could see that the man hadn't come alone. There were three large men standing in the door way, one the ex-Deathscythe pilot recognize to be the man who had snatched him but it was hard to tell as they all were dressed the same, had shaved their heads and were wearing sunglasses over their eyes.

"No, it doesn't There's a one hundred volt charge that runs through the door after it feels any vibrations; you pounding on the door or trying to open it via the food flap, for example. Now that the warnings are out of the way, I will get down to business."

Duo sniggered to himself before he rubbed his right eye with his fist like a small child who had just been woken up from their nap as he tried in vain to remove the spots from his vision again, "I have a friend you should meet. He's just as clipped and straight to the point as you are."

"So I've read, Mr. Maxwell. Your stay has been generously provided for by the Lord, and he is a very patient man. He is willing to wait as long as it takes to get the answers that he would like from you."

Duo made a snorting noise through his nose before turning his gaze onto the man in front of him. He was dressed properly for a business man; a black suit, white buttoned up shirt, black tie. Everything was neatly pressed and proper, save for his hair that hung past his ears and looked like it had been greased back at one point, but something had happened to jostle the strands in the front loose, and now they hung in his dark brown eyes and slightly pale skin.

"And what answers would he like from little ol' me?" Duo asked, rubbing his right hand with his left a bit miserably.

"The Lord understands that you have extensive and expert knowledge in computer programming and hacking, is that correct?"

"Yup." Duo grunted as he glanced around the room once again, hoping to spot a way out of there the place was sealed up tighter than Fort Knox.

His gaze rested on the three men at the door as he mulled over a possible escape plan but nothing was coming to mind. He looked to the man who had grabbed him and wondered how the big man had snuck up on him. The man looked like a baby elephant or something or the same stature but he was able to not only sneak up on Duo but take him captive, something not even any of the other pilots had ever been able to do, but then again, he did have his guard down as he was trying to act like a civilian. Guess he will not being doing that any time soon.

"The Lord has also been informed of your extensive knowledge in metal work, building, and construction of large objects like cars, planes, shuttles and mobile suits. Is this correct?"

"Where are you getting your information from?" Duo asked, frowning a little at the man.

"That is information the Lord does not share with me or anyone. His connections are his own. Do you have these skills or don't you?"

Duo snorted before he brought his leg to him, resting his elbow on the knee cap and cradled his head into his palm as he peered up at the man before him, a bored expression on his face, "And what if I do?"

"Mr. Maxwell, please understand that the Lord is a very patient man, and will not hesitate to do anything that is required for his answers."

"Che." Duo scoffed as he looked around the room again.

"The Lord requests for your skills and knowledge to build him a mobile suit similar to the Wing Zero Gundam that you fought beside during the war. He would like it to be similar, if not completely the same as the original. He also requests that blueprints be made to outline what he would need to begin construction his own line of mobile suits and dolls."

Duo froze at his request before he turned wide eyes only him. He stared at him in disbelief before his eyes narrowed into slits, darkening the usually vibrant violet color, "Seriously?"

"That is all he wishes. After you've produced them, you'll be knocked out; your memory of the event erased, and released back into the general population. You can do anything you wish to do after your release."

Duo snarled at him, teeth bore before he folded his arms across his chest, "Over my dead body, bub. There's no way in God's green Earth nor otherwise would I ever tell you assholes how to build a Gundam, nor am I going to give you anything to make your own line of mobile dolls. Forget it. Those prints have been destroyed, and I refuse to divulge what I know of them. So go wrap your dick around your waist and go fuck yourself."

The man didn't seem at all surprised by Duo's outburst, but he did look exasperated. He pinched the bridge of his nose before he sighed softly, "Mr. Maxwell, please come to understand that if you do this the easy way, all will be forgotten. Do this the hard way, well then… I'm going to have to let the boys have at you."

"And?" Duo snarled impatient, glaring at the three men that stepped before forward a step, massaging their knuckles, rolling their shoulders and getting ready for something Duo could only assume would be the beating he was going to endure.

The man in the suit sighed suffering, hoping that Duo would just tell him what he needed to know and walk away without a scratch on him but true to his profile, the ex-Deathscythe pilot wasn't going to be easy to win over, he was going to have to use persuasion.

"I tried. Okay, boys. The Lord says to use whatever means necessary."

"Whatever you say, boss." One of the men grunted stupidly.

The man nodded before he moved to the door, walking out. Duo glared after him before violet eyes scanned the men coming towards him. He leapt to his feet, backing away a few paces, moving his body into the most defensive position that he knew.

When the first man lunged at Duo, the long haired male swept forward, his movements quickly shifting from defensive to the offensive. He swept the side of his hand forward, slamming it into the man's throat, taking only a microsecond to gloat in his head before he moved to the next man. Duo swept his leg, flung his arm, and tried almost desperately to get through the wall of large men, but no matter how many he took down, they just got right back up, blocking his escape.

He stumbled; sweat covering his body, legs shaking, and arms numb. How long had he been doing this dance over and over again with these people? He couldn't tell; all he knew was that he was wiped out, and thick hands were grabbing his arms and shoulders. He took in one last gulp of breath, violet eyes searching out the bulb that hung low from the ceiling, being momentarily blinded by it before his whole world was engulfed in nothing but agonizing pain and unheard screams.

Sunlight poured into the hotel window, shining off the sheets that had been professionally placed on the bed by the cleaning crew the day before but were now hanging oddly off the side of the bed, bunched in certain places but laid flat in others, a sign of either a lot of movement in the night or a lack of need for the sheets and blanket. The occupants in the bed's clothes lay strewn all over the floor starting from the door and ending just before reaching the bed where it was apparent that these two were more than in a hurry to get the offensive garments off of each other. In the morning light, the clothes stretched out to make long, thin shadows that appeared as if mini spirits that were enjoying the new surroundings.

The only sound in the room was the sound of the sheets moving against bare flesh as one of the bed's two occupants started to claw his way out of the comfort of his dream world. Lifting his head, the blond glanced around at the mess on the floor and the bedside table that had a nearly gone bottle of lube just thrown there in the haste of the activities of the night before.

He didn't want to have to move, but the sun in his eyes was bothering him. It was keeping him awake by shining so brightly in his azure eyes, it also didn't help that the direct sunlight of the morning was making the area where the sun was hitting the bed hotter than anywhere else on the bed, so there were places where he was cold, then a few inches south or north, he was burning up. Groaning a little, he pulled the covers over his head, snuggling into his bedmate's warmth as he tried escaping the offending rays by putting his face into the other's side.

He shifted a little, unable to get comfortable with the uneven hot spots on the bed until he finally found that proverbial hole in the bed that one would find and not want to move out of that resided in all the beds. He had his face pressed into another chest, his legs tucked up close to the longer, naked form and strong arms wrapped around his waist and shoulders, holding him close and using their own skin to block out the sun. Quatra smiled softly, and was so close to falling asleep once more in Trowa's arms when a small tickling feeling on the back of his neck made him extremely uncomfortable.

Small growls rumbled from his small chest, making his bedmate shift and tighten his grip around him. As comfortable as he was, and how great it felt to be in Trowa's arms, he felt like there was something missing, or something that he had to do that he hadn't done just yet. It was really starting to bug him as his brain tossed around questions for it like 'am I forgetting something?' and 'did I go somewhere I wasn't supposed to last night?' He opened his eyes again and glanced up at the ex-Heavyarms pilot, a new smile spreading over his face as he looked at the slumbering features before him.

'Nope. That's not it. I meant to go to this hotel room with Trowa, sleep with him, the whole nine yards. Wow, I've been hanging out with Duo for too long.' Quatra thought to himself before his stomach plummeted down in his gut and he pulled roughly out of Trowa's arms as he sat up straight, blanket flying from where it had been resting on top of his head and pooled into his little waist over his legs. Trowa made a noise that sounded oddly like a disturbed cat as he rolled a little onto his back and stretched out his legs, arms over his head. Work toned muscles straining as their owner forced circulation back into them then relaxed back into the bed once they were sufficiently worked.

"Oh, Allah! Duo! What time is it?" he sputtered as he flung his blanket off himself, ignoring the slight noise of protest from his bedmate when not only did he jump out of bed, but the blanket had found a place to settle right over his face and head. Trowa huffed a little as he pushed the sheets off of him and watched as Quatra gathered up his underwear and shorts then shoved them onto his hips rather roughly.

Turning a little, Trowa looked at the clock on his side table before he yawned almost dramatically, "It's twenty after eleven." He replied, not really understanding why Quatra needed to know the time.

"Oh, no! I promised Duo I would call him before his shuttle left! It was suppose to leave an hour and twenty minutes ago! Oh! Maybe he accidently slept in and missed it. He does that sometimes." The distressed blond cried in despair, snatching up the vid-phone and dialed the number to the room that Duo gave them to call.

Quatra listened and watched intently as the other line rang for what felt like forever. He held his breath, praying that he hadn't missed Duo leaving but his prayers went unanswered as his call was redirected to the front desk so he could leave a message.

"Front desk. How can I help you?" the man answered, his face coming onto the screen. He looked a little older than him, his hair a bit graying at the roots, his face looking more king but still slightly asleep.

"Good morning. Can you patch me into Duo Maxwell's room? It's number twelve. Please."

"Absolutely, Mr. Winner." The man responded when he noticed who was on the other line with him, suddenly, he seemed to be wide awake and ready to work. Quatra listened to the line ring several times before the man at the front desk picked back up and told him that Duo wasn't answering or he was no longer there.

"Did you see him leave?"The blond asked, wanting desperately to have said good bye to his fellow Gundam pilots before said male went on with his life.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Winner. I've just arrived here for my shift. I haven't seen anyone all day."

Quatra sighed sadly, eyes moving to the ground, fingers tensing on the receiver in his despair, "Okay. Thank you."

"Anytime, Mr. Winner." The front desk man said as apologetically as he could before they both hung up at the same time.

"He wasn't there?" Trowa called from where he was lazily leaning into the pillows at the head of the bed.

"No… I missed him." Quatra muttered sadly, his hands rubbing at his bare shoulders.

"Quatra, there's no use crying over it now. We'll call and apologize after he lands."

The Winner heir looked over his shoulder at the other male before he gave him a small smile that soon brightened as he nodded, "Yeah. I suppose you're right."

He returned to bed, snuggling into the other's warmth and drifting back to sleep with the resolve to call Hilde's scrap yard later to ask to talk to Duo and apologize for not call him before. The next morning, way after it was time for the American's shuttle to land, Quatra sat down at the chair in front of the vid-screen and dialed the number the ex-Deathscythe pilot had left them for if they had to get a hold of him while he was living with Hilde. He waited until she picked up and smiled to her.

"Hello, Hilde." He said politely.

"Q-Quatra? Why are you calling here? Is Duo okay?" she asked, sounding truly worried.

Raising a blond eyebrow, the millionaire looked at the woman on the screen in confusion, "Duo isn't there?"

"Here? Why would he be here?" Hilde asked, sounding as confused at Quatra felt.

"He said he was going back to L2 to help you with the scrap yard."

Hilde seemed to relax at his words before she chuckled, looking wistfully at the ceiling then lowered her gaze back down to the blonde, "Knowing Duo, he probably found something more fun to do and went to do it."

"He said he was going up there to see if you needed any help and then he was going to go traveling."

"Trust me, Quatra. Duo does this all the time. He makes plans, and then something comes up. He probably just decided to skip over coming up here, you know how much he hates this colony, and just started his traveling. He is a flighty one. One minute he says something, then something else grabs his interest and he's gone." She chuckled, shaking her head, "I'm sure he'll call once he's found somewhere to stay for a bit."

Sighing sadly, Quatra lowered his gaze to the desk and nodded his head, "Yeah, I do suppose that is how Duo functions. I hope he calls."

"He might, he might not. He might just try to sever his ties with the war and try to come up with something new. He probably just needs to get adjusted to civilian life. That's all." Hilde offered, a kind but sad smile on her face.

"I hope not… I've lost quite a few friends and family during the war. I was hoping to at least keep the other pilots close to me."

"He'll call you, Quatra. Don't worry."

"Thank you, Hilde, and I'm sorry to have bothered you. If Duo calls you, can you tell him to give me a call, too?"

"Sure thing, Quatra. Bye."

"Bye." He sighed as she hung up. Sighing again, he heard the sound of Trowa coming into the room behind him.

"Anything?"

Quatra shook his head in a sign of depression, "I guess… he wanted to leave us behind. Maybe it's for the best. He was the one that wanted nothing more than to just forget what he'd done during the war. Maybe that meant us as well."

"I don't think that's it, little one. He might just be lost, looking for his way. He'll find it, and you'll be the first person he'll call. You know that you will be. You are his best friend."

Smiling wistfully, he nodded his head, "I'll keep my phone on for him all the time. I hope he's happy. Where ever he is."

Trowa nodded as he held the small blond from behind as the Arab silently mourned the loss of his best friend and comrade. Over the course of two months, Hilde would be called by Wufei and Heero, and she told them almost the same thing that she told Quatra to reassure them that Duo was doing what Duo did best and they should just be patient. With these words, no one questioned why the American had disappeared from their lives. He'd told them that he was going to travel for a while, to 'grow up' as he put it, and they left it at that. Not wanting to intrude on the other. It didn't seem odd to them that he would just leave randomly, sever all ties with them, and never keep communication.

Life went on for the other four pilots, as it should've been. Some gathered up steady jobs, a couple others started up their own lives, getting into relationships, found they didn't work and moved on to find someone else in hopes to find that person they were going to spend the rest of their lives with.

Meanwhile, the fifth and final pilot laid against the wall of his concrete prison; panting raggedly, most of his exhales coming out as pained wheezing, blood streaking down the corners of his mouth from where he'd bit down on his tongue, cradling his broken wrist to his chest as the electrified concrete door was slammed shut with a horrible, teeth grating scraping noise. It was worse than nails being run across a chalkboard. The light above his head flicked off, plunging the Shinigami into his new world. A world were darkness, pain and fear reigned supreme and he had not a friend in the world anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

Five years passed for the rest of the world. After the dissapearance of their fellow pilot and friend, Duo, the other pilots had become very close to eachother. Every Friday, Quatra and Trowa had the other two, and sometimes Zechs, over for dinner, a movie, and maybe a bit of remanicing over what they missed most about eachother or going over problems that they have because of the wars. They'd become more of a family now than they had ever been before. Wufei once told them that he thought their getting closer was because the missing pilot wasn't around to do anything to them. They didn't have to be on the offensive or defensive all the time and they could just be themselves. This line of thinking often got the others mad at him so he didn't voice it often to them. Even with his words as harsh as they were, the other three knew the truth behind the facade the Chinese male was putting up. Deep down, Wufei knew as well but he would never admit it to anyone out loud. All of them missed their missing friend. Of all the people they had all collectively lost during the war, Duo was the one that effected them the most. Inside, they knew that they weren't getting closer because Duo wasn't around to annoy them but rather they were getting closer because they were afraid one of the others would dissapear as well.

The four of them that were left had joined the Preventers at different times. They all had their reasons for joining and leaving their previous jobs. Heero quit bodygaurding for Relena because he could no longer take the fact that she kept trying to force herself on him. The last straw was when he went to the control room where he kept an eye on the security cameras and found her naked on the consule. Needless to say, he was not impressed and was very angry that she soiled his instraments so he stormed out of the mansion and never returned. Trowa joined the team after realizing that the circus life wasn't keeping him as active and entertained as it should. Quatra joined to get away from his many sisters. He once said something about all their clocks being synctronized. This made Qufei and Trowa laugh but Heero didn't get it. He didn't understand how clocks weren't syncronized and how having them as such was a bad thing.

Today was a very important day. Well, important to everyone in the organization except one. It was Heero Yuy's twenty-first birthday and the party was in full swing in the debriefing room. Agents were all over the place, talking and having their own versions of fun while still making sure to stay within the rules of the organization. Talking, joking and laughing with eachother. Everyone was enjoying themselves save for the man of honor, who was standing off to the side, watching said festivities. He hated gatherings of large numbers of people. It always set his nerves on edge and he didn't like it when he felt like the walls were closing in around him or anything like that. His persian blue eyes scanned the area, hoping to find a less crowded place but there wasn't one. He tensed when Trowa slid up next to him, arms folded over the taller male's chest.

"Congradulations, Heero." Trowa said, smirking knowingly at the uncomfortable young man.

"Hn."

Trowa chuckled, "Why did you choose this day to be your birthday?"

"What?"

"You heard me." Trowa said, rolling his eyes.

Heero was silent at first, seeming to be thinking over his response before he sighed, "This is the day I first met Duo."

Trowa stood up straighter at the mention of their friend's name and looked to Heero, watching him closely, his expression clearly asking the other to elaborate on what was just spoken. Heero glanced at him, hoping he would drop the topic but that wasn't going to happen so he let out a rather frustrated sigh.

"On this day, I first met Duo on the warf where he shot me in the leg because I was going to kill Relena."

"I see. You know, some would confuse that as the day you met Relena."

"Che. Never. I prefer not to remember that I had met her on the same day. I wish I had never met her in the first place." Heero growled, his jaw clenched as memories of his treatment when it came to taking care of Relena came back to him.

"Well, I have better news than to just come over here and bust your balls." Trowa said, looking across the room at something or someone.

"Oh?" Heero asked softly, looking to him then followed his gaze to where Quatra was talking to some of the other agents in the corner.

"I'm going to ask Quatra to marry me."

Heero's head swiveled around to him quickly, looking at him with slightly wide eyes before he smirked knowingly at him, "It's about time you two did something about your relationship. It's only been five years after all."

"Shut up, Yuy."

Heero chuckled before he suddenly stopped and stood up straighter, "Oh, great. Here comes Une."

Looking to the left, Trowa spotted her making her way to them and straightened up as well. Une made her way through the compact of people until she made it to the two and stopped, a rare gentle look on her face.

"Enjoying your birthday party, Yuy?" she asked, an almost wicked smile on her face as she knew that Heero hated parties and social gatherings more than anything else in the world.

A soft glare came from the Japanese male, which only got a small chuckle from the leader of the organization, "What do you want, Une?"

"Sorry to have to mix business with the party buy I have a mission I need the five of you to undertake."

"Explain." Heero said, looking more interested now.

Heero hated parties, especially if they were parties that were just for him. He didn't like the spotlight or being the center of attention. He would've rathered his birthday went by without anyone but the other pilots saying anything about it. The fact that Une had a mission that she needed them to take was like a God send to Heero. A chance to get away from the party and do something he would actually like to do but Une only chuckled at him.

"Tomorrow, Yuy. I will tell all of you everything tomorrow."

"Then what was the point in telling us that you even had a mission in the first place, then?"

"To tease you. See you and the other pilots tomorrow." Une said as she turned quickly and managed to somehow dissapear into the crowd of people.

"Remind me again why we didn't kill her in the war..." Heero grumbled sourly.

"Che. Like we could get that close to her. Relax. Enjoy the party." Trowa said before he walked off, heading to where Quatra was laughing as he talked with Sally Po.

* * *

Outside the door to the briefing room, the remaining five pilots stood, each one wondering who was going to be the brave soul who knocked on the door. They'd heard around that Une wasn't in a good mood today and that something had gone wrong on another mission that another team performed but none of them were sure what had gone wrong or how it was going to effect their own briefing. Quatra looked around at the others but knew that it was going to be him that breaks the little stupor they were in. He reached out and gently rapped his knuckles on the large oak door. The silence that followed the last vibration of those little taps were almost deafening. Each of them wanted nothing more than to run back to their desks, claim that they had forgotten completely about the mission pending but they staied in their place for different reasons.

Quatra wasn't as scared of Lady Une as everyone else was, so he was a given for staying. Trowa wasn't scared of her either, mostly because he was the only one that could probably out run her or tune out anything she could scream at him, it would also help that he belongs to Quatra, and is considered untouchable by everyone in the organization. Wufei's pride refussed to let him run away from a woman like a little child, so he stood there, shoulders squared, his face set, ready to face the devil woman head on. Heero, on the other hand, staied where he was because he knew that if Duo ever saw him running away from someone like Une, he would never hear the end of it. He would have to endure days apon days of torture on how The Perfect Soldier was afraid of a woman half his height, half as skilled as him, and probably lived through less things in her life than Heero does on a day to day basis. He refussed to let reality tell him that Duo wasn't around to mock him so he could run away if he wanted to. Zechs wasn't scared, he just didn't want to be the one yelled at today.

"Come in!" the voice called on the other side of the door, making Heero's blood run cold, she already sounded pissed.

Quatra opened the door and lead the way in. Heero was able to see Wufei's complexion pale a few shades as he moved into the office himself and wanted to smile. After his and Sally's relationship ended a little badly, he's always been tense, watchful in case Lady Une decided to take it apon herself and revenge Sally, for some odd reason. The others could never convince Wufei that since Sally was the one that ended the realtionship, that there was no reason for anyone to try and get back at him, also it'd been about three years since they'd broken up.

The five of them stood before the large desk that the brunette woman sat behind, her reading glasses slipping from her nose a little, making Heero, Wufei, and even Trowa tense at the sight. Neither of them would ever forget the Lady when she wore those glasses during the war, so hateful and evil. That part of her only ever seems to come out when something goes terribly wrong and she ends up having to put her own face in the papers to cover it up. She wasn't much for reporters.

"You wanted to see us, Ma'am." Quatra said, not at all phased by the glasses, but then again, he didn't have too many bad experiences with them when Une was their enemy.

She lifted her dark eyes to them and removed her round glasses. She gently folded the arms and set the aside on the desk, "Yes, I did. I need my best agents on this operation, which would be the five of you."

The two asian boys and Torwa almost visibly relaxed where they stood. She wasn't going to kill them herself. No, she was just going to send them on a suicide mission for the next life time.

They could always handle suicide mission much better than they could ever handle Lady Une. Especially when she was on her 'monthly red demon', as Duo would've put it. Heero almost missed that Une started to talk to them again. Pulling his thoughts from Duo for the second time in the morning and focused on what his supperior was going to say to him.

"I have been recieving intell about an organization that I have been trying to squash for almost five years now. We believe they have been trying to get a political faction into the ESUN." Une explained, sliding a folder full of paper to the five of them.

Zechs grabbed the folder and flipped it open, looking at the first page, "Do you think they have been successful?"

The door opened and another man walked in. He was in plain clothes of a t-shirt and jeans, his head was slightly balding, the rest of it was salt and peppered. Crow's feet deepened his eyes but he still looked more cocky than wise with this feature.

"Sorry I'm late, ma'am. I didn't get the memo that the time of the hearing had been changed." the man said.

Heero had to supress a groan of frustration at the sight of the man. His name was Harry Wormwood, and he was the biggest asshole Heero had ever met in his life. He believed he was better than everyone in the organization, even the pilots. His biggest boast was how he shot down the Gundam Deathscythe during the war. He liked to believe that he was the reason that Duo Maxwell went missing five years ago, that the ex-pilot was afraid of him and what he could do. This kind of thinking always gave the other pilots and itch to just punch the man as he knew nothing of the man he was trying to judge.

"Good thing you arrived, Wormwood. We were continueing the briefing without you. You can ask your other team mates later what you missed. I am in no mood to repeat myself today. As I was saying, as far as we know, they haven't gotten anyone in. We believe that Relena has been doing a decent enough job on keeping them at bay in ESUN."

"So you need all of us to play scanner to a bunch of incoming deligates for the upcoming Senator's elections?" Quatra asked, taking the file from Zechs and flipping through it himself.

"No. The commander believes they are doing something more sinister." Zechs said, looking at Une as she thread her fingers together and rested her chin on them.

"We have recently captured one of their operatives and have recieved some alarming information. Somehow, it is unclear as to how, this faction has gotten their hands on lay outs for the colony L2, and blueprints on how to build a new line of Mobile Suits. Gloating, the operative even claimed they have a Gundam somewhere."

All five of the pilots looked up at her, Quatra having the most expressive look on his face of pure shock and terror, "A Gundam? A real Gundam? Where would they get plans to build one? The only plans for such a project were destroyed when we self-detonated all our suits, and how would they get that much Gundanium Alloy without someone noticing and alerting us sooner?"

"That's what has me worried so much about this thing. We weren't able to get too much information out of the operative that we had captured before he bit through his own tongue and killed himself in interogation. We haven't been able to get any news on their boss other than the operative refered to him as 'The Lord'. We don't know anything else but that, not what his real name is, what he looks like, nothing.

"Where do we start, then?" Wufei asked, taking the file from Trowa and leafing through it.

"The man was able to tell us of a building near by that the faction owned and used as their main base for this city. Apparently, they have bases all over the Earth Sphere and the several dozen colonies." Une explained as Wufei read about the building and studied the pictures that were on a few pages into the file.

"Are we sure this trail isn't false?" Wormwood asked, snatching the file when Wufei tried to hand it to Heero.

the Japanese male glared at the other man before turning his attention back to Une, "As sure as we can be. He wouldn't tell of where they got the plans, who's building it, where they were or anything. there have been no massive charges for the metal in seven years. the last was an order that Heero had placed to rebuild Wing Zero. Since then we've monitors all the purchasing and selling of Gundanium anywhere in the world and on the Black Market. No one has ever order more than a few pounts and the biggest shipment since the end of the wars was seven pounds to a shuttle company that were testing the prototype of a new Shuttle model."

"Objective?" Heero asked, snatching the file from Wormwood so he could finally look through it.

"This will be a two part mission. The six of you are to go under cover and infultrate the ranks there. I want the building cased. I want a complete and extensive lay out and I want the place watched like a hawk for a month before we go in. I want everything that you can think of doing, I want you all to be sure that it is done. Got it?" Une asked, her tone sharp and clip.

"Yes, ma'am." all of them chorused in an almost militaristic fashion.

"Dismissed. And, Yuy, if I find out you have been fighting or unintentually sabatoging the mission, you will be on training duty for a month."

Heero swallowed hard, glancing at a smug looking Wormwood as he left the room, once the others were gone and it was just him and the Lady, he turned to her, "Ma'am, no disrespect but you know how I feel about that Wormwood asshole. How he talks about himself and about Duo."

"Duo Maxwell took himself out of the picture, Agent Light. He decided to leave and take a life of his own somewhere else. Maybe it's about time that you stop waiting for him and let people have their own opinions." Une said, leaning back in her chair.

"I can't."

"You can. You just don't want to because of your feelings towards him."

Heero's stomach dropped at her words and his throat tightened up. How did she know about his feelings for the missing ex-Deathscythe pilot? Only Quatra, Trowa and Wufei knew about that and none of them would tell someone else to where it could get back to Une. He'd been in love with the missing man since the end of the first war and that wasn't information he wanted just anyone knowing about, "Ma'am."

"Let him go. Move on. Live your life. There are more than enough women and men in the world that you could choose from. I admire your diligince for your work, but sometimes you get yourself riled up too much for someone who probably doesn't even want to see you again. He dissapeared from everyone's life without so much as a good bye or a P.O. box."

Heero's jaw clenched in frustration, so many emotions running through him in such a short amount of time. He could feel the anxiety building up inside of him, the need to run tugging at his heels and he was almost tempted to let the urge take him. He relaxed his hands, not realizing he had clenched them and now had four crecent shapped, angry indents in his palm. He forced himself to swallow air and shook his head, turning so his back was to his commanding officer, "No one would ever be him. Just like no one would be Trieze for you."

With that, Heero turned and allowed his fight or flight instincts take over. He left the room quickly, the door closing soundlessly behind him. He strode with almost determined steps back to his office that he shared with the other three pilots. In there, the three were already there and looked at him. Immediately, Quatra seemed to know what was on his mind and gave him a sympathetic look. Trowa glanced to his lover then back to Heero, that one glance told him everything he needed to know about Heero's current state of mind. With a soft sigh, the taller male stood, walked over to Heero's desk and went through one of the drawers.

"Don't."

Trowa stopped his movements and looked up at Heero, his face emotionless as he gripped an orange pill bottle with a white cap, "Don't argue, Yuy."

"I don't need one." Heero growled, stomping over and snatching the bottle from his friend.

The green eyed man looked down at his hand that was now empty then at Heero again. He studied his face as the pill bottle was replaced into the drawer. Heero was always like this when something was brought up about Duo and he didn't know how to deal with it. It's been this way for five years but he still tried to fight when he needed to take his medication. He was on a few medications that were to help him through some disorders he picked up from his life as the Perfect Soldier but the fact that he still tried not to take them meant that he wasn't getting any better and he was trying to deny that there was something wrong with him. It was a bad idea to have something like this going through Heero's head after the last time someone made him this upset.

"01, do not argue with me. Take a pill or I will stuff it down your throat."

Ex-Wing pilot's jaw clenched, his glare in full force as he stared down the taller male but it wasn't going to work. Trowa didn't ever back down and it didn't look like he was going to do it now either. Trowa was always very forceful when it came to Heero's treatments, almost the same way that a mother would be with her sick petulant child. It was useless to fight, but Heero always tried and failed. Grunting softly, he went back into the drawer and withdrew the bottle. twisting the cap, it popped open and he poured a single, innocent looking pink pill into his palm. Quatra appeared at his side, holding out a bottle of cold water. Nodding in thanks, Heero popped the pill and downed half the bottle of water.

"Why do you still fight me, Heero?" Trowa asked, taking the bottle from the Japanese male.

"Because if I don't, I might become dependant on these pills and I don't want that. I'm not a junkie."

"It's not abusing drugs if you actually need them, Heero. We have told you this many times." Quatra said, a frown on his innocent face.

Heero said nothing as he put the pill bottle back into the drawer and closed it soundly. The blond looked to Trowa worriedly as Heero sat in his chair, pulling papers to him to get started on planning the next few weeks. Shaking his head, the brunette motioned Quatra away from Heero so he could get to work like he wanted to. He hesitated for a second only to join Trowa's side across the room where they had their desks set up beside the other.

"So how are we doing this?" Wufei asked, walking away from the copy machine that he had been using to make duplicates of the file Une had given to them then handed each of them a copy of the file.

"We need a couple of us to infultrate the building as new recruits." Heero muttered as he flipped his file open to the political plans that were so old, he didn't bother to finish reading them. He flipped the page again to a picture of an eight story tall building sandwiched between two equally tall buildings. The face of it was suppose to be painted dusty blue, but the paint was peeling and coming off the red bricks that lay under the paint. This made it look more run down than the other two buildings. It didn't really look like a building a bunch of people looking to start a new war would have their headquarters in.

"Starting without me? Thinkin' you can get one up on me. Well, I'm already three steps ahead of you all." came a voice that made Heero snap the pencil that was in his free hand.

Wormwood walked in, his posture as cocky as ever, giving all of them a smirk that told all of them that he thought he was the most important person who had ever graced this office. Wufei rolled his eyes, handing the older man a file of his own, only to have Wormwood toss it aside like it was unimportant to him. Quatra glanced to his lover then sighed softly as he walked around his desk and perched himself on the edge of the corner.

"What do you mean, Wormwood?" Trowa asked calmly, his face not betraying the annoyance and anger he was feeling as he wasn't a big fan of this man either but he was the organization's top ten agents so Trowa put up with him.

"I alread know how to infultrate the building and I just need three of you to do it."

"And you were put in charge of this mission, when?" Heero growled softly, glaring daggers at Wormwood as Zechs entered the room.

"I've done these things for a very long time. Maybe even before any of you were born. I know what I'm doing. You don't seem to have a clue." Wormwood said, motioning to the copied file that Wufei gave to Zechs.

Zechs gave Wormwood a sideways glare before he sat in a spare chair, flipping through the file himself. Quatra slid off the desk, his left hand gripping the edge almost hard enough to turn his knuckles white as he took a calming breath.

"Harry, we're meant to work together on this mission. There is no one person in charge. Even if there was, it would have to be voted on."

"Che. All you pansies would vote for the one you think would hurt ya if ya didn't." Wormwood sneered, looking pointedly at Heero.

"Yuy would never intentionally attack us. Your argument is invalid." Wufei said, gently lowering himself into the chair behind his desk.

Heero felt a swell of pride in his chest that he was being defended and not made out to be a bad guy as the last time he ever physically harmed one of the others, he wasn't in his right mind. He'd been trying to deny that he had a anxiety problem so he refused to seek help until one attack had him punching Quatra in the gut just because he'd touched him. That was something he never wanted to see happen again. No one deserved his retaliation when he was in a bad space. He felt even better when Wormwood turned his glare onto Wufei, who just looked at him boredly.

"As I was saying, we need a couple of people to ge into the organization as new recruits." Heero said, making his self busy by twirling a pencil between his fingers and reading the words on the printed papers before him.

"Trowa should be one of them." Quatra pipped up, looking to his lover.

"Why?" Wormwood asked, frowning deeply at the blond.

"Because Barton is the best of any of us in infultrating organizations. He can slip in, gather information and sabotage the place before anyone ever realizes who he is." Wufei said, nodding his head to Quatra, showing that he agreed with what he had said.

Wormwood was about to open his mouth when Zechs cut him off, "What about you, Wufei? You're almost as good if you were willing to wear one of those face masks."

"Augh. I'm alergic to the adhesive that they use on those things. I wont need a mask, my face will swell like a damn party balloon." Wufei grumbled, shaking his head.

The allergy to the adhesive would cause blothes on the skin that would quickly give way to becoming small patches of hives where it was touched. Extreamly bothersome and itchy. Truthfully, Heero liked it when Wufei got one of the masks done because it was always a riot to see how he would try to scratch the itchy patches of skin without 'seeming too weak to take a few itchy patches'. Once again, it would be his ego getting in the way of his life.

Zechs chuckled softly, "Just a suggestion. You could always use Benadril for it."

"He hates it. Says it tastes like ass." Heero chuckled as Wufei turned his glare onto him.

"That is not what I said, Yuy! I said ass would probably taste better!"

Quatra blushed and covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to laugh as Zechs burst into boacious laughter, holding his sides as Heero smirked triumphantly at the now crimson and sputtering Chinese boy.

"T-that's not w-what I meant! Nataku, you all need to get your mind out of the gutter!" Wufei snapped, which only made Quatra burst into laughter and Zechs wipe tears from his eyes.

Trowa gave a small smile as Heero continued to grin like a madman. The only one who didn't seem to be enjoying torturing the ex-Shenlong pilot was Wormwood, who was scowling at all of them.

"We have less than a week to plan this and you fags want to swap escapades?" He growled, sufficiently killing the laughter.

"What did you just call us?" Quatra demanded, any kindness in his voice was gone. He hated that word with a passion and made it his personal mission to beat the shit out of anyone who used it. Especially if they used it to describe his lover or friends.

Trowa glared at Wormwood, placing a comforting and calming hand on Quatra's shoulder, "We all would appreciate it if you did not use that word or any phrase that is derogative to homosexuals."

"I'll say what the fuck I want." Wormwood said cockily.

Showing why he was called the Lightening Count, Zechs moved in a blur, snatching Wormwood by his colar and pressed him hard against the wall, his usual silver/blue eyes now dark and stormy with anger, "The fuck you do. You ever disrespect these men again, I will end you and your career. Got it?!"

Wormwood flushed white, looking at the angry man nervously then nodded his head quickly as he was allowed back onto his feet. The others watched with smirks of their own, it was rare that Zechs stood up for anyone but himself, Noin and his sister but when he did, he wasn't a force you wanted to toil with. When he threatened to end someone and that person didn't take the warning, they really were never heard from again. Kinda like the old Godfather movies or something similar to it.

"How do they get new people to join them?" Wufei asked, changing the subject while Wormwood collected his wits and Zechs returned to his seat.

Heero flipped to the previous page in his file, "Protest rallies." he grunted then flipped back to the page he was on, "Basically current members go out in the rallies and recruit people they find who would be interested in joining their cause."

"How are we going to get them throught that? Everyone knows our faces, and thos that don't will see our faces at these little 'Anti-Relena' rallies. The former Gundam Pilots are usually the main attraction when it comes to the Vice Foreign Minister and her talks of peace." Quatra said.

"We'll have to get some different identities done." Heero said softly, "Especially the two of us that will be infultrating the base."

"I still say Chang should do it with Barton." Zechs said then smirked at Wufei, "Even if he has to eat a little ass to do it/"

The other three burst into light laughter as Wufei turned purple, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water. Realizing he was being overly embarassed again, he tried to hide his blushing face by ducking his head onto the desk, his arms going over his head like a shield.

"Aw. Wufei." Quatra cooed before he was given the bird.

* * *

Through most of the next week, they had very little if any trouble with Wormwood. The jobs were dished out as they were according to the skills they had. Trowa, Wufei and Wormwood were going uner cover as operatives in the organization. Heero, Zechs and Quatra would be doing recon outside the building, documenting everything that happened on the outside while those three worked on the inside. A month later would find the pilots have fallen into a routine that ran like clock work.

In the morning until the evening, Heero would be perched in a window that was across the street from the headquarters. He wrote down everything that he saw; when a car would pull into the building's parking spots, discriptions of those that got out of the car would look like, and anything else that he thought would be important information that his team needed. Quatra would man the recording devices that were expertly hidden on the three on the inside. Zechs would alternate between running for food or tuning the equipment then, after eight hours, they would switch jobs for another eight hours then switch again until it ends up with who was on what in the beginning again.

To Heero, the place seemed more of a hang out for the lackies of the organization than a place where high ranking members would be. He mostly ever saw one man coming and going from the building. He arrived around two in the afternoon every day, like clock work. He would be inside anywhere from an hour to two hours, then leave again. He looked like a business man to Heero, a plain old every day businessman who looked sorely out of place in the rather run down building. He was always wearing a suit, a tie, white shirt and black shoes. One would call his outfit a monkey suit. His shoes were polished perfectly, his shirt and jacket ironed straight, and his unidentifiable hair laid slicked back on his head by some sort of gel.

After he spent up to two hours in the building, he would come out with the same exasperated look on his face, get into his black Jaguar and tear down the street like someone would be shooting at him any second. His leaving would signal the leaving of one of the large, bumbling men to leave, dissapear down the street for an hour and return with bags of take out tha would be enough to feel twenty people.

By the end of the first week, Wufei had confirmed Heero's suspician and reported that there was at least seventeen people inside the building at one point and all of thm were in charge of something else. It was a mixed group of big, stupid men that were most likely the musceals, a few people that would be working on computers and some wise guys sitting around an playing poker on the second floor. While he confirmed the comings and goings of the man in the suit, neither he or Trowa knew what he did at the building. Every time the suited man would come around, someone would make them busy and they miss their chance to see what he was up to before he would leave.

Wufei had tried to follow him a couple of times but each time he was close to going down the stairs to the cellar where the man would go, someone would stop him and have him do some mundane work. By the time he would finish the task, the suited man was gone. Trowa once went down to where the man goes by himself one day and found a chair sitting in the dark facing the farthest wall as if it were something that needed to be watched. No one ever talked about the man and no one seemed to think that his comings and goings every day were a big deal. In fact, they could almost set their watches by the time the man would come. Wufei reported that he had no idea what the man did in that 'basement' but what ever it is, it was giving him a hard time.

Heero jot down the last of his notes and closed his notebook. Once it was secure, he climbed out of the window and fetched a small hand mirror. Using the sun's reflection, he cast a light into the window he knew Wufei would be in, signaling him that it was time to go for good. They've had no contact save for the occasional disposable cellphone call or notebook exchange in the whole month. Even with the calls, it was just reporting information then getting off the line before someone would notice one of them talking about something they weren't suppose to. After a few minutes, he received a flash of light from the other building, the signal that Wufei had gotten the message and they would be out soon. Heero helped Zechs and Quatra pack up the supplies and load it into the van that was on the other side of the building, down an alley way where no one would notice the already black vehicle. Once that was done, all that was left to do was to wait for their three agents that were on the inside.

"Where are they?" Zechs asked as he stepped up beside Heero to look down the street at their target.

"Relax, Marquise." Heero grunted, straightening when three men left the building and headed their way.

One of the men stood taller than the other two, his skin pale, his hair cut short in a deep red color; Trowa. He had wanted to do something different and even went as far as to get a wig professionally done for this job. Not that getting a hair cut would've sufficed. No. Quatra liked his bangs the way they were and almost had a two year old fit when Heero was trying to convince the ex-Heavyarms pilot to get them cut. It was quite a sight, really. Immediately beside him, slightly shorter with blond hair and tan skin was Wufei. It was hard to get a match for his skin tone but the rage for young men their age was hair color that didn't match their obvious heritage. This was good news so Wufei didn't have to get a mask done for his face. The last was a fat, balding man that almost waddled his way over to the group of them, which was Wormwood. Trowa handed something to Heero as he slipped into the alley, keeping to the shadows as he began to peel the wig off his head. HIs actual hair was plastered to his skull so that it wouldn't be in the way of the wig. The agent had dried almost rock hard and didn't let a single strand of hair move out of place.

"Are we done?" Wufei asked as he climbed into the van, followed shortly by Trowa.

"Yes. Now all we have to do is give Une this information and we'll be able to go into the building in a week." Quatra said as he finished getting a wire off Wormwoof and put it away, sliding the tape into a marked evidence baggie.

"Thank Nataku." Wufei sighed, sounding both tired and irritated.

* * *

A week later, Une's office was full to bursting with atleast fifty operatives, including the ex-pilots. All of them had rather stern looks on their faces, and you could probably cut the tension with a knife. Heero felt his shoulders itching to move, and he rolled them. Even after this long, he still wasn't used to the tension not being broken up by someone, anyone. He hated that this was going to continue through the whole meeting. He decided that since all Une would be doing is reciting what they'd learned in the month. Heero had memorized all of it during the month, he knew the building as well as Wufei, Wormwood and Trowa did now, and intended to keep from being lectured on something that he already knew.

He allowed his thoughts to travel to five years ago, and the regrets that he held in his chest. He let his mind wander to his life. It wasn't really much of a life right now. All he had was the apartment that he shared with Wufei to avoid having to pay the full amount of a rent, and a cat that he'd named Wing, Wufei had a cat himself that he named Nataku. Needless to say, all of them were still having a bit of trouble letting go. He worked with only Wufei for a while when he first joined the agency, almost a full year before Trowa came into the program, bored out of his mind with Quatra on his heels.

His whole life was basically going home, eating, showering, sleeping, working and going to Quatra's Friday functions. He hated it, but it was the best that he could do right now. Once again, his mind traveled to how his life would've been like if he'd told Duo how he felt about him. Heero wondered if Duo would've shared the feelings. Maybe they could've started a relationship. Maybe they could've done better with his life other than just work and living off the basics.

"Agent Light will lead the team going in the front, being consoled by Agent Fire and Earth. Understand?" Une asked, glaring around the room as she asked the last question.

Heero shook his head a little to knock his thoughts out of his head. He had missed the whole debriefing in his day dreaming about his life.

"Yes, ma'am." Heero found himself being deafened by the men and women all shouting this at once.

"Excellent. The assault will begin tomorrow. Be ready to move out in 0800 hours." Une barked, glaring still.

"Ma'am." Everyone barked.

"Dimissed." Une said, almost smiling as everyone bumrushed the door to get away.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

In the darkness, the front door opened, letting light pour in. Heero glanced around in the darkness before carefully reaching in and flipping the light switch on. He'd been on the receiving end of a burglary a few years ago, and now he was always on edge when he came home. They hadn't taken anything by the time he got there but it was enough to shatter any trust he had of the people around him when it came to his home. Finding the inside to be satisfactory, he stepped inside and toed his shoes off at the door. Once his socked feet touched the ground, he bolt locked the door.

"Maaaarw."

He finished the last lock and looked down to see his orange and white cat reaching up and using his pant leg as a scratching post. Not that the thing didn't have an actual scratching post but this seemed to be how he liked to greet his owner coming home. Bending down, he scooped the animal up and tucked the feline under his arm. A soft purring noise came from the orange tabby cat as he sniffed the jacket Heero hadn't shed yet.

"What're you sniffing at, Ren? It's the same jacket that I always come home in." Heero said to the cat as he set him on the dining room table.

The cat sat back on its hunches then reared up onto his back legs, his fore legs curled up to his chest as he mewled and meowed loudly. His orange eyes on his owner as if the sun rose and set on his command. Heero shook his head at the animal's behavior. Some would see it as a sign of affection from the animal but the Japanese male knew better. He'd had this cat for almost two years now and he knew what he was really after. Food.

Turning back to the highest cabinet, he opened it to reveal a large bag of cat food that sat innocently there. Calloused hands took the bag and gave it a shake, which caused the cat to meow even louder and stand up further on his hind legs, his nose twitching as he sniffed the air. Shaking his head, Heero got a bowl from the sink and cleaned it before he scooped out the appropriate proportion of food.

"Looks like Mrs. Rayson forgot to feed you a couple times. Dare I check your litter box, Ren?" he asked the cat as he slid the dish over the table to the cat, who dived right in and began to eat as if he'd never had a meal in his life.

Blue eyes rolled fondly at the cat before he left the room to check that litter box. Early in his therapy after the war, his therapist thought it would help him to have a companion. An animal that he could take care of and watch grow. His cat was a small one, just barely bigger than a Chuahuah dog and didn't seem to be getting bigger any time soon. He was given the cat as a 'birthday' present from a little girl who had lived a few doors down. She thought he was lonely and would enjoy having something to love, which, oddly enough, coincided with what his therapist wanted him to do. So he accepted the kitten and now had a little ball of fuzz that was as attached to him as he was to it. He would never admit it to anyone besides the other guys but he loved his cat. He was very lucky with the personality, too.

Although the cat was a big pig and constantly wanted to eat, he would curl up under the blankets with Heero at night and just lay close by, purring contently. It was something Heero had done with him as a kitten as he was afraid the small little thing would get stuck behind the couch, entertainment center or the fridge so he kept him with him at all times. Until the day that he felt comfortable enough to let the cat roam the house when he wasn't home to keep an eye on him. Ren was also the only reason Heero kept himself in line while at home and didn't fall into old habits, such as leaving things that would alert him to someone illegally entering his living space. Before Ren and after the burglary, he had booby trapped some parts of his apartment. It was always interesting to see until he got the kitten and it tripped the alarm in the living room for the first time, and then he decided to take everything down in favor of just using conventional methods of house protection.

Heero made his way to bathroom and sighed a bit in annoyance as he found the box hadn't been scooped out for a while. He spent a few minutes scraping the bottom of the pan to get the clumps of urine off the bottom then tossed them in the trash can by the toilet. He sprinkled a little baking soda into the box and then a little more litter. He always made sure that the box was clean and baking soda, while it was hardly anything useful to him otherwise, kept the litter from smelling for a little bit. Long enough for him to clean it out again.

"Merow."

Heero took a step back from the box, groaning softly as the cat stepped into the box and began to sniff around the dig a hole.

"Yes, Ren. I just finished cleaning it so you must defile it." he said then left the bathroom to let the small feline do his business in peace.

The Japanese man made quick work of straightening up the place then sat down at the table to eat a sandwich and down a bottle of pre-made green tea. He usually ate dinner with the others just before a big mission like this but tonight he wasn't feeling like it. It sucked that this day had to fall on a Friday night. He liked spending time with the guys but this night was the one night of the year that he didn't feel like being around anyone. Persian blue eyes turned to the fridge where a picture hung innocently on the surface. In it, he and Duo were standing against a wall of a school they had infiltrated during the war. Both of them wore the uniform, Duo had his long braid of hair hanging over his shoulder as he smirked impishly at the person taking the picture. Heero was in the process of trying to hide his face from the camera but the person who had taken it were just a little faster than he was and was able to snap a shot with his hand only up to his chest. Taking another swig of his bottled tea, he swallowed thickly.

"Hope to see you sometime in this next year, Duo." he muttered softly.

Today would mark the fifth year that the ex-Deathscythe pilot had gone missing from the world. He remembered he had tried everything to find the other but nothing worked. He just disappeared into the void of the world, lost amongst the billions of other people that existed out there. Every year on this day, he would send his hope out that they would meet again, even if it wasn't going to happen, it made him feel a little better about everything. Thought, despite his wishes, he once again took his night medication, turned off all the lights, picked up his cat, got into his boxers and crawled into bed. He set Ren up on his pillow, giving the cat a few seconds of chin scratching before turning over. He stared at the opposite wall for a while until his medication kicked in and allowed him to fall into the bliss of nightmare less sleep and Ren's purring.

* * *

Today was the day of the big mission. Heero stepped out of the van he'd been driving and took up a position behind the wall of the building next to their target. All they had to do was get in, arrest some people and shut down the building. It was pretty straight forward enough but with how many people who would be in the building while they were doing this, it required a lot more men than they usually took on a mission such as this one.

"Okay, let's go over the plan one more time." Wormwood demanded of everyone, taking up standing on the back of the flat bed they had brought along.

Just in case there were items that could be confiscated such as Gundanium, plans or even vehicles that could possibly hold information that they needed. Une wanted all the bases covered when they went into this place. The rest of the group was made up of seasoned agents as well as a couple new faces that were seeing a real mission for the first time. It didn't seem to bother them and knowing what the plan was a very important but Wormwood was trying to assume the job of being the leader again. Even though he was told time and time again that he would be the last person getting such a position.

"Inside, we will-."

"Car!" someone hissed behind Heero causing everyone to freeze.

Heero made his way past the groups and kept to the shadows, watching a black Jaguar pull up to the building. This made the Japanese boy confused as the man in the tailored suit made his way out of the car. He pulled a pair of gloves over his hands, and slipped a gleam of metal into his over coat pocket. It was a gun. In all their observations of this man entering and leaving the building, he never had a gun on him. Not once. Now that he had one, it made the Japanese boy a little worried to see it. He wondered if this would put the mission in danger since no one was informed of the extra weapon. The man made his way to the building, a set look on his face that told Heero someone in that building was going to die today. He wanted to smirk as they probably found a double agent or a rat in their little nest. He waited for the man to go into the building, disappearing into the depths before he gave the signal for everyone to get into place.

Crouching down behind a row of cars, Heero trained his eyes on the entrance of the building as the others got into their own places. He glanced around, spotting Wufei leading a small group around a few alleys down so that they wouldn't be seen coming. Persian blue eyes took stock of where other agents were and where it would be best for everyone to get in and out quickly if the need arose. He glanced up, watching a few minutes before Trowa waved his hand over the edge. He'd gotten up there quickly and that meant they were all ahead of schedule. He heard the sound of Wormwood complaining but dismissed it as he gave the signal.

Heero and his group darted across the street, keeping behind cars, as a shadow cast over him from the building. He glanced up to see Trowa walking across a telephone line that connected one building to the other and ran forward.

The men that were manning the front let out startled yells adn went for hidden pistols on their sides but Heero lifted his old glock at the two which signaled the others to also raise their own weapons. Seeing that they were out numbered, the hands went into the air in surrender. Heero kept everyone back while the last man raised his hands over his head, then allowed some of his men to restrain their first captives. Once the four were taken care of, Heero looked up as the sound of gun fire above his head told him that everyone now knew they were here.

"Scatter!" Heero commanded as he ran up into the building.

"Preventers! Freeze!" some yelled as the biggest men that they encountered in the begining of the hall tried to escape down the hall.

Wufei fired off a warning shot which made the man bumble to a stop, hands held high in the air. Quatra quickly took to the stairs, disappearing up into the higher part of the building to assist Trowa. Heero bolted forward, gun raised and at the ready as he reached a group of five large, burly men that were standing with their hands raised over their heads. It was obvious all of them knew that they were caught and there was no point in fighting it. Zechs and Noin made quick work of getting restraints on the men as Heero headed upstairs.

HIs legs powered him up the different leves, some times taking two at once with his gun raised and ready. A shot sounding off madce him duck his head just in time as a bullet ricocheted off the wall where his head would've been a split second before. He got down onto his knees on the stairwell, glancing around the corner of the banister. He had to suppress the urge to laugh as Quatra was tying up the last man with something that looked suspiciously like a shoelace. His face revealed how pissed off he was as Trowa tied his men up with zipstrings. Out of the ten men that were suppose to be up here playing cards, only seven were being arrested. The other three laid on the floor in a pool of their own blood dead.

"You two got it covered here?" Heero asked.

"Of course." Quatra said, giving the other a fake smile then punched the guy he was restraining in the face when he tried to fight laying down.

"Yuy? Come in, Yuy."

Heero smirked a little, picking up his communicator. He waved it at Trowa a little, who rolled his eyes. They weren't suppose to use real names when in the middle of a mission. It was dangerous and it would seem that Wormwood, in all his years as a Preventer and an agent of what ever organization he'd been apart of during the war, didn't seem to get that. Holding the device up to his mouth, he pressed the button so he could respond.

"What is it, Agent Woods?" Heero asked, making sure to put extra emphasation on the call name.

"Do you have that man that we'd seen come in?"

"No. He's down there somewhere." Heero responded, checking the guys that were tied up.

"Find him. He's not down here."

Clenching his jaw, Heero turned a suffering look to Trowa, who was glaring at his own communication device.

"Right." was all that he responded as he headed back down stairs.

Down at the foot of the stairs, Wufei was tying up the last man. An unhappy look resided on the asian's face. That could mean one of two things either he heard how Wormwood had talked to him over the communicator or someone got a cheap shot off on him and his pride was wounded. Heero waited until he was finished and helped him to his feet.

"Back me up as I go down stairs."

Wufei nodded in understanding. Drawing his weapon, the two headed down the hall that lead deeper in to the bowels of the building. At the end there was a harmless looking door that stood between them and what was on the other side. It was quickly opened, both men pressed to the walls of the halls in case someone started shooting at them or something of that fashion. Seeing it was clear, Heero lead the way into the dimly lit stairwell that lead them down into the basement, which wasn't much of anything. THere was an old, faded green lazy boy in the middle of the room facing a empty wall. The whole place was lined in concrete; some of it had scratches in it from the dripping that was coming from the ceiling and now pooled off to one corner of the wall. The only thing to really speak of for it being here was maybe for the Electric box an the Water heater if you didn't count the old chair.

The two looked around cautiously before they each went to one of the walls. They ran their hands over the concrete, looking for anything that would be out of the ordinary. Heero's caloused fingers found an inconsistancy in the concrete and signaled Wufei over. Backing away, the two quietly examined the area until they saw what looked to be a door cut out of the material, a small, golden colored thing that resembled a lock was twisted to the left with a very small black square at the bottom that Heero had mistaken for a stain on the wall. Using his foot, he carefully tested the black thing and found it to be a flap, like the one he had installed in his bathroom door for if he accidently left Ren locked in or out of the bathroom. The two listened closely but nothing seemed to be happening on the other side. Carefully, the Japanese boy stepped forward and touched the door. Wufei made a hissing noise, motioning him to stop by making a slashing movement over his throat but the ex-Wing pilot paid him no attention. He pressed his ear to the material, listening closely.

He heard something faint, it sounded like voices talking. He pressed a hand to the door and gently started to push. He winced as a slight scraping noise could be heard with the bare movements. It was defidently made to keep something or someone inside of it.

BANG!

Heero leapt back from the wall in surprise. Wufei grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his side, his black eyes wide in surprise. Running his hand over different parts of his body, Heero made sure he wasn't shot or clipped by the sudden gunshot. Nothing was wrong with him so he looked at Wufei, who nodded to him. With all his strength, Heero flung the door open and quickly raised his weapon to level with the suited man on the other side.

"Freeze!" Wufei yelled, side stepping into the room carefully.

The man in the suit staied where he was, his slicked back hair shinning off the single light bulb in the room. Wufei glanced around at the little bunker then pulled a face as the smell of the room finally hit him. It was a horrible, rancid oder that reminded him of rotting fecal matter and decaying flesh. He'd once gone into a sewer to escape a bounty hunter. The smell was horrid, but this room made the that place smell like a bouqet of roses on Valentine's Day.

"Put the gun down. Now!" Heero barked, breathing through his mouth to keep from smelling the place.

"I don't have my gun anymore." the man said calmly, flicking out his wrists and showing that he was, indeed, unarmed.

Heero glanced around, "Where is it? I know you were shooting at something. What was it?" he demanded, his gun remaining trained on the man's back.

"My gun is probably against the wall behind the door..." the man said calmly.

Heero glanced to his immediate right and noticed the silver weapon that he'd seen the man come with earlier was laid there as harmless as an empty one. For a split second, Heero wondered how it could've gotten there but he tore his attention away from the gun to look around the room. It was small, obviously built as a holding cell as the only form of comfort in the whole room was a bed on a metal stand and a chamber pot in the opposite corner. There were scrapes and scratches on the wall near the bed, and it looked like, at one point, someone removed one of the legs from the bed as it was precariously balanced on three instead of four. What ever was in the room wasn't there willingly.

"Put your hand sup. Slowly." Wufei instructed, forcing Heero to tear his attention away from the mangled bed to the man in the suit.

Once the man complied with his hands held up to his head, Wufei reached back into his belt and pulled out his last pair of handcuffs. He slipped his gun back into the holster, knowing Heero would keep the man in line, and stepped behind the man. He made quick work of slapping the handcuffs over the small wrists he held and made sure to adjust them to the size. Heero appeared beside the two of them, his gun pressed to the man's head to be sure that he didn't try anything funny.

"What were you shooting at?" Heero demanded, his tone rather low. He was already tired of this mission as it was easier than what they had been made to expect it to be. Almost too easy.

"I missed." the man said, shrugging his shoulders, glancing at Wufei then turned his dark brown eyes onto Heero, his slicked back hair casting a light in Heero's face for a second.

"I didn't ask if you got what it was. I'm asking what you were shooting at? An animal?"

The man snorted through his nose in a supressed laugh, "Sort of. He scampered under the bed after he knocked the gun from my hand."

Confused, Heero looked at the three legged bed. He lowered his weapon a little and made his way to it. Carefully, he got down on to one knee and moved to bend forward and look under it.

"Agent Light." Wufei hissed, making Heero jump and turn his head to him, "Don't. You don't know what's under there. Could be a snake."

The man in the suit snorted and Heero rolled his eyes, "A snake, Fire? Really?" Heero asked sarcastically.

Wufei shrugged, his own gun now trained on the man as Heero continued bending forward. He gave the under side of the bed a quick glance to be sure nothing would attack him from being there. He didn't see anything at all, really that first time. He bit his lower lip and slowly lowered his head down to look under the bed. At first, he didn't think he saw anything until he noticed a large figure huddled in the far corner against the wall. Their body was curled into a fetal position, their thin arms over their face, fingers touching the slight amount of hair there.

"There's someone under here." Heero whispered softly, sitting up to look at Wufei.

"Great. Pull the bed up, arrest their ass and le t's get out of here. This place reeks. Come on." Wufei said, pulling the man towards the door and shoved him out of it.

Heero climbed back to his feet, taking the side of the bed in his hands and lifted it off the floor until what was under the bed was exposed and the actual bed was up on its end. He tossed it aside and turned back to what he had found. He didn't miss the whimpering and almost sobbing noise that was coming from the mass, not to mention the shaking its body did from the emotions and fear. Heero clenched his jaw a little, seeing how emaciated the body was. He could see every bone in their body, bar none. Its spine was the worse of it as if looked like the skin was painfully stretched over the bone.

"Damn." Heero murmured softly, slowly getting to one knee, "A prisoner?"

He carefully reached out and grabbed ahold of one of the arms that were over the head. Even though his touch was gentle, he could still feel the bones, tendons and withered muscles shift under his fingers as if he had a death grip on the person. A new round of whimpering came from the form, telling him they were alive if only just. Wufei returned into the room, no longer concerned with the smell and froze at the sight.

"Kami... Is he alive?" Wufei asked, kneeling beside Heero.

"I think so. It keeps making noises. Help me. Be gentle." Heero said.

The two worked carefully to move the body until it was sitting up, still in the fetal position. Heero winced as he heard the sickening sound of a bone grinding against another and cartilage breaking. The thing let out a cry of pain, finally uncurling to weakly shove at the two. Wufei balked a little.

"Hey, you little twit. We're trying to help you." he snapped.

"Wufei." Heero hissed scoldingly.

The man was in bad shape. His hair, unevenly cut short was matted on his head down to his shoulders. Burn scars littered its arms and legs One side of his face, the right, was completely black, blue and swollen. The eye was sealed shut with a secretion of green, liquidy puss rolling down his cheek. He had his good eye closed tightly, as if that would block out everything horrible that was going on with him. Bruises littered down the sides of his face, blood was caked against his dirty skin. Every where he looked there were different scars in various stages of healing.

As Heero noted earllier, he was horribly thin. The one good side of his face showed an impression of his skull, he could actually see thin wisps of musceals moving with the actual jawbone as the man clenched and unclenched it under the skin. Heero swallowed thickly. He could count every single bone in his ribcage, even see that one of them was broken and was dangerously close to poking out of the skin. There was a dip where the stomach should've been. His skin was horrible blotched in a pale, sickly yellow colour that made Heero wonder what other ailments effected this poor man.

"My God... How long has he been down here?" Wufei asked in amazement.

Heero could only shrug as he reached for his communicator, "Agent Sand."

"Go ahead." Quatra responded on the other side.

"We're going to need a bus. We have a prisoner of theirs and he's... in terrible shape." Heero said.

"That's putting it lightly." Wufei murmured, looking to Heero.

"Alright. Do you know what's wrong?"

"Among other things? Just stell them we're going to need IV fluids, and some sedatives. He's malnurished and probably dying."

"Alright. Sand out."

Heero sighed softly, replacing the com back onto his belt and looked at the person they had found. Their eye was open now, but they were staring at the floor. He watched throat work to swallow what ever saliva he had as slowly, the man raised his vision. Heero frowned a little as the man looked at him with one blood shot eye. The eye color was very hard to make out but it seemed to be almost violet in color. It was an odd eye color to have as he only knew of one person who had such an eye color before. A frown appeared on Heero's face as the man stared at him but didn't seem to be really looking at him, more like through him.

Wufei watched the man as he stared, wondering what he was so fascinated by before he looked to Heero and noticed that he was staring too. He had never seen the usually reserved man do that before. Idly, he wondered what was going on in this man's head until Heero reached out to him.

"Hey. Easy, Yuy." Wufei hissed, almost physically restraining himself from smacking his partner's hand away from their find.

"I'm hallucinating again..."

Wufei blinked at the cracked, hoarse voice that came from the emaciated man. It sounded like it was either damaged from disuse or it was used up, he couldn't tell which. Heero inched closer until the man actually leaned into his hand, resting his dry, yellow skin against the tan, caloused one. His good eye closed, as if content as he just sat there.

"I like this one... It feels real." the man murmured to himself, his voice hitching and breaking every few words, "It's almost like he's here."

"No... It can't." Heero murmured so softly that Wufei almost missed that he spoke at all.

"Can't be what?" Wufei asked.

"Help me move him."

"Are you nuts?! His body structure, moving him too much could break something!"

"I have to see. I have to see!" Heero snapped, taking his hand away from the man and gently taking ahold of his shoulders.

"Yuy, don't!" Wufei hissed too late as Heero forced the man to lean forward away from the wall.

His back was littered with scars from pass abuse but Heero seemed to be looking for something in particular.

"In the war. Captured. They...-" Heero said, sounding almost desperate until he stopped and froze, his hand resting over something, his face turning the color of sour milk.

"They what? Yuy?"

Heero swallowed thickly, "N-no..." he choked as he let the man sit back against his shoulder. Emotions built up so much in Heero that he was terrified of, but mostly it was realization and heart break as he felt the practically dead form in his arms shift.

"What is it, Yuy?" Wufei demanded.

Heero turned the man a little until the Chinese man could see his back. Wufei didn't see anything other than a few scars until Heero moved his hand to show one scar on the right shoulder blade that looked like someone had burned the skin deeply in the shape of a zero and a two.

"OZ branded his call number in his shoulder when they captured him." Heero said thickly as Wufei's heart and stomach plummeted in realization and dread, "They branded him..." he made the man sit back against the wall then reached out, taking the sides of his face into both of his hands so the man had to look up at Heero with his one good bloodshot violet eye, "Duo?"

"This one talks." Duo muttered softly, as if in a daze, his good eye going even more glassy than before as he slipped back into the madness of his mind.

"M-Maxwell? My God... Has he... been here... the whole time?" Wufei asked in shock, tears building in his eyes and trickled down his face.

"Duo? Duo, please." Heero said softly, trying to coax the man out of his stupor, hoping that if he kept repeating the name that the man would tell him what he wanted to hear. That he wasn't Duo and it was just a coincidence that he had the same scar in the same place.

"Hee-chan?" the man asked softly, a sad look appearing in his eye as he stared through the one in front of him.

Heero felt like the world was pulled out from under his feet. He found himself staring at what remained of the boy he loved. The one he never got to tell his feelings to. He pulled back from Duo, letting his hands fall into his own lap, his head lowering to face the ground. He could hear the sounds of people coming down the stairs above their heads from the ground floor. He faintly heard the blip of an ambulance siren that was now parked outside, and his ears picked up the sound of someone shuffling in the next room. The suited man they had captured in the act of trying to kill Duo.

He felt as if something clicked in his head. His gaze lifted from the floor, his eyes glazed with anger and a sudden, set determination. He could feel his legs taking him somewhere but where never registered with him until he suddenly found himself using his glock to punch the face of the suited man that was still handcuffed on the floor. He would've kept going if it wasn't for long, strong arms that grabbed ahold of him and pulled him off of him. Heero glared daggers at the man that was cradling his broken face in his cuffed hands.

"You! You did this to him!" he heard himself snap in a tone of voice that he hadn't heard in a very long time. It was a tone of pure anger and rage, it was the voice of the Perfect Soldier who was out for blood.

"Yuy." he faintly heard someone say.

The man looked at Heero, his eyes cold and calculating until an evil smile spread across his bruising face then rolled his eyes as he sat up from the ground, "I tried to give him a way out. He just had to do what the Lord wanted and he would'vce been released back into the world and left alone. He wasn't going to do it." he explained softly, his smile never leaving his face.

"Why? Why him? Why did you do this to him?" he growled, daring the man to answer him in the wrong way.

The man looked at him again, straight in the eye as his grin spead across his face, "My Lord gave me an order. I fullfulled it."

Heero let out a growl of anger. He let his legs go from under him, allowing him to slip from the man who had him's grasp. Like an animal to its prey, he pounced on the man, snarching him by his shirt and pressed his face to him, kneeling between his legs, "Tell me who this 'Lord' is, and you tell me right now."

"Now why would I do a thing like that? Hee-chan?" the man taunted.

Raising his fist to strike the man again, he was grabbed and hauled off of him by both Trowa and Wufei. Heero struggled against the two of them as the man in the suit laughed and sat up. His eyes were cold, calculating and ready to inflict as much pain as possible. Heero let out a cry of rage at the laughing, struggling harder until both men pinned him down to the ground, holding him there.

"Who did this?!" Heero demanded of the still laughing man.

"You'll never find him. The Lord is everywhere. He'll get what he wants eventually. He is a very, very patient man."

"You bastard!" Heero roared, his voice cracking from the emotion and how much yelling he'd been doing the past couple of minutes. He struggled harder, trying desperately to get away, "Let me go! I'm going to kill him!"

"That's why we're not going to let you go." Trowa said. He grabbed Heero's face, forcing blue eyes to meet green, "01, stand down!"

Heero felt himself relax at the order. The snarl was still set on is face as he glared at the two men holding him down. His body thrummed with the need to punch someone or to kill something. He wanted someone else to hurt as bad as he was right now. He wanted someone to hurt as bad as Duo had been hurting these past five years. At that thought, Heero went limp against the two men, shaking his head with his eyes closed.

"All this time..." he whispered softly, his tone of voice surprising both Trowa and Wufei, "He's been here... all this time... alone... hurting... and we never bothered to look for him... All this time."

Trowa tilted his head in confusion as Wufei hung his own head sadly and swallowed thickly. Heero began to chuckle to himself. It wasn't the maniacle chuckles that he used to use during the war. This one was more primal and more emotional. Sad emotional. The taller boy let go of Heero and sat back, only to realize that Heero wasn't actually chuckling to himself. He was sobbing, biting down on his lip to keep from crying or lashing out. Now intrigued by his reaction, Trowa moved from where he was standing to the door that was cut into the concrete. He looked inside and swallowed thickly as he took in the huddle mass in the corner.

Duo was unconcious on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest and his thin, bare arms wrapped around them, trying desperately to stay warm. Trowa looked to Wufei, who was looking at him with shame and sadness in his eyes. Indicating to the figure in the corner with his head, Wufei swallowed thickly.

"Maxwell."

Trowa's eyes widdened and his gaze snapped back to the huddled form. Quickly, he made his way to him. He checked the unconcious form, making sure that he was still alive and breathing. He was awarded with a faint thumping against his fingers that told him that his heart was still beating. Weakly but it was still there. He felt a great sadness take ahold of him as he carefully began to remove his jacket from his shoulders.

"Trowa, what's goi-?"

Trowa turned quickly, throwing his hand in the air as if that would halt the world. He desperately wanted to spare the blond from te sight of this for as long as he could but it was too late, "No!" he shouted as Quatra walked into the room.

The blond stood at the entrance, his body tense enough to almost snap in half. His eyes were wide and shocked before they quickly filled with tears and he sank to his knees. His smaller hands moved over his heart as he stared at what was left of Duo. Trowa gently placed his warm jacket over Duo and scrambled to his feet. He knelt before the blond, blocking his view of the horrific scene but that didn't stop the onslaught of pain and anger that coulded the blond's eyes as he started to sob.

"No... It's not... It can't... No... Tro... Is it... Is it him?" he sobbed, his free hand grabbing Trowa's wrist desperately.

"Quatra..." Trowa mumbled softly, his own eyes soft and sad.

"Is it him?!" Quatra screamed, his shoulders sloucking forward, his right hand pressed hard against his heart, his left digging into Trowa's arm as he leaned forward. He pressed his face to the taller's chest.

"Yes..."

Quatra felt like he had been punched in the gut, a horrible heated feeling filling his heart and let out an anguished cry that was muffled by Trowa's chest. He'd been blocking Duo's emotions from his Space Heart all these years as he didn't want to feel the happiness Duo probably was experiencing without them. He wanted to give the other his privacy, let him live as he wanted and with his decision. If he'd just left his connection alone like he was supposed to, he would've felt all of Duo's pain all these years and would've been able to help him. He could've sent for help, anything. The front of Trowa's shirt became soaked as he openly sobbed against him as tender hands gently comforted him.

The four mourned the condition of their long lost friend where they were. Wufei directed the paramedics to Duo once they arrived. Zechs came down the stairs after the medics, looking confused as Heero was now sitting on the floor quietly, legs crossed and face in his hands. He looked in on what the paramedics were doing and now fully understood what was going on. He bowed his own head as the stretcher baring Duo slipped past him and up the stairs.


	4. Chapter 4

He was so comfortable. It was a phrase he hadn't used to describe how he felt for a long time. Floating in an abyss of darkness, he felt wonderful and didn't want to move from where he was. This must be heaven or something similar to it because he didn't want to leave. Idly, he wondered where he would have been sent to after all that he had done over the years. The people he'd killed and things like that. It was a thought process that he had always had when he found something good about his life, even if it only lasted for the briefest of moments.

"Kid?"

He tensed a little and felt the ground rushing up to meet him. He winced as his back hit a cold, unfamiliar surface before something else was draped over him, making him feel an equally unfamiliar warmth. It traveled from his arms, over his chest and down the length of his body. He was still comfortable so he didn't see the harm in staying where he was until a familiar facec loomed over him.

Shoulder length blonde hair framed the young face of his first real friend and protector. He gazed at the youth for a few seconds before he gave him a crooked smile. Solo rolled his eyes at the smile. He knew Duo only smiled like that when he was doing something that he knew he shouldn't. Or he was being lazy, which was another thing he shouldn't be doing.

"Hey, Sol. Come to join me?"

"You know I haven't, kid." Solo replied with a frown.

Duo rolled his eyes, yawning as he cuddled into the invisible warmth, which started to feel like a very thin blanket to him, something he hadn't had for a long time, "God, this feels good."

"Kid, you have to wake up! Now!"

"No, I don't. I like it here."

Solo didn't say anything else. Duo opened one eye to look up at his friend, wondering why he was suddenly so quiet. Solo never gave in on something, especially not when he sounded so urgent. Above him, Solo had changed into the very man that had tortured him for so long. Reality collided with Duo, his body suddenly went into a spasm of pain, he could feel his skin drying. His lips felt dry and he went to lick them, but his tongue was dry, too. Depth perception failed him as one eye became swollen closed.

"Solo? Sol?! Where did you go! Solo, come back!" he yelled, his body hurting more and more as the man loomed over him, "No! No, stay away!"

He pushed himself up onto his hands and crawled out from under the man's penetrating gaze. Duo felt his breathing turn into panting wheezes, his chest began to hurt right where his heart was. He fell back, crying out in pain as he clutched his chest and stomach that was dipped past his ribs.

"No! No!"

The man walked calmly over to him, a gleam of something in his hand made Duo look at him with his one good eye. He felt fear grip him for a second before pain blossomed from his right arm, the bone grinding against another bone as it was shifted. His hips screamed in agony and Duo was powerless but to watch the man point the gleaming thing at him; a gun. Duo swallowed thickly, trembling from head to toe as he looked down the barrel of the weapon that was poised to strike.

"Solo?" he cried out one more time, the trigger being pulled back, he clenched his eyes closed, waiting for the trigger to slam home and fire the bullet, "Heero..."

BANG!

On the gurney, Duo let out a wailing scream. He tried to move but he was tied down to the mobile bed and couldn't get loose. He struggled, feeling bone grinding on bone and every nerve in his body hurt like hell. He twisted one way, only for a pair of hands to push him back onto his back and wrestle him into being still.

"No!" Duo screamed, struggling to get away from the hands and the straps, "No!"

The medics looked at each other and went back to trying to restrain the young man as the nurse that rode with them began drawing a syringe of clear liquid. Duo looked over at the third person and let out a petrified scream. They were going to drug him, to poison him, again! As the needle got close, he screamed and thrashed around again until his tiny arm slipped from the restraints.

He made to grab the needle, to defend himself but the man was too far away. Letting out a frustrated cry, Duo laid back on the bed, trying to wriggle his way out from under the combined weight of the two men that were now practically laying on top of him. Suddenly, a caloused hand grabbed his face then the other joined in on the other side.

"Shh. It's okay, Duo. They're going to help you." Came a soothing, familiar voice.

He forced his good eye open and looked up into the saddened green eyes that were looking down at him. He felt his heart skip a beat as the realization of what, or rather who, he was seeing hit him like a ton of bricks.

"T-Trowa?" He whimpered, swallowing dryly, "P-please... Don't let them."

"It's okay. They're going to make you feel better."

Duo whimpered as he felt the burning sensation of the needle enter his skin. He stared at the vision in front of him, his bad eye burning as tears streamed down his face. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He'd seen Heero as a hallucination a few times before but he'd never seen Trowa or any of the others. To see what he was seeing, he felt hope blossom in his chest again after so long.

"You... you found me." Duo said softly, reaching up and grabbing the sleeve of Trowa's Preventer's uniform.

Nodding, Trowa let go of his face and took up his withered away hand, wincing as he felt broken bones grinding against eachother under the skin. After a few seconds, Duo was unconcious once more, laying silently on the bed. Jaw clenched, Trowa gently laid the hand he had been holding down onto the bed and climbed out of the ambulance. He backed up enough to where the paramedics were able to get Duo out of the truck and rushed him into the hospital.

Once the group was gone with Duo, Trowa turned and headed back to the parking lot where Wufei was helping Heero out of the car. The former Wing pilot was walking mechanically, not even seeming to notice or care about what was happening around him. Trowa walked over and helped Quatre out of the car, holding the small blond close to him as he closed the vehicle door behind him. Once inside the emergency room, Trowa directed the other three to chairs and had them all sit down. He made sure they were all situated before he went to the front desk to a woman behind a computer screen who was typing very quickly.

"Excuse me. There's a young man that was just brought in. Severely emaciated. His name is Duo Maxwell." he said.

The woman nodded her head, not stopping her typing until a few keystrokes later and then looked up at Trowa, "I'm sorry, sir. We haven't admitted anyone with the name Duo Maxwell."

"You would have him as a John Doe. He was just brought in by the ambulance."

"Sir, do you realize how many people we get in that entrance a day?" The woman asked impatiently.

"I don't care. I'm talking about the man that was just brought in. Sickly thin, malnourished."

The woman sighed impatiently and began to look at something on her computer. She was quiet then sighed, "We have three John Does that are currently being treated."

"I don't care. I am talking about one in specific. I'm trying to give you his information so you don't make him worse or kill him!" Trowa could feel his patience wearing thin with this woman.

The woman started to say how she couldn't put the information in unless she knew which John Doe it was when Sally walked into the emergency room, her face set as she approached Trowa.

"Sally." The taller male said, looking at her in relief.

"I heard from Zechs. How is he?"

"Not good. Can you treat him?" Trowa asked, ignoring the sputtering of the woman behind him.

"I'll see what I can do." Sally promised before she headed into the back of the Emergency room.

Trowa nodded after her and went to sit down beside Quatre, who was glaring a hole into the chair across from him. Leaning his head back, Trowa closed his eyes in hopes of catching a little rest before anything was told to him. His body felt like it weighed a ton, like he was going through the G-force of leaving the atmosphere. His head was screaming at him, pounding horribly against his skull. His eyes watered a little because of the pain, and the chair pressed into the back of his neck, but he ignored it. He didn't have the energy to do anything about it or move.

Trowa jerked awake, gasping slightly as he felt the hand jostle his shoulder. His body tensed, ready to strike before a familiar voice broke through his start.

"Easy, Trowa. It's Sally."

Emerald green eyes turned to her before he sighed softly. He used the heel of his hand to rub the sleep out of his eyes. His mind was still a sleep deprived mess until what had happened earlier suddenly came flooding back to him. He sat upright, taking in his surroundings before his gaze landed on her once more. "How is he?"

Sally gave a quick glance to his left before she motioned for him to follow her. Getting up, Trowa winced as joints painfully popped back into place and became loose where they had stiffened up. He glanced at the others and was happy to find that all of them were asleep.

Quatre was curled in his chair like a cat, legs tucked to his chest and kept that way by hooking his ankles into the chair's arms. His wrists were crossed and pressed to his chest as if he was protecting his heart. Wufei was sitting sideways in his chair, arms crossed and head leaning into the wall behind his chair. Heero was sleeping with his arms crossed too, his chin on his chest, breathing evenly. His feet were crossed at the ankles. Turning back to Sally, he followed her down the hall until she seemed to deem them far enough away from the other three to give the news to the Latin boy.

"Why did we have to be so far away from the others?" Trowa asked softly.

"Because you're the only one that seems stable enough to hear this. Heero's too close to this. Wufei is off, probably guilt, and Quatre's too extreme in his emotions." she said softly, holding her clipboard almost protectively to her chest, eyes glazed with sadness.

Trowa just stood there for a while, thinking over what he should and shouldn't ask. He wanted to know, he wanted to help Duo but truthfully he was terrified of what Sally would tell him. He'd seen Duo and how he looked. He was afraid to know what lay beneath what little shreds of clothing he was wearing.

They all spent five years under this self made delusion that Duo just didn't want to be around them. That he was happy where he was and he would make a living like he was supposed to, like a young man. The truth was much more horrifying and it caused Trowa to wish that it really was that Duo had wished to sever ties with them rather than this. What he had seen, he wouldn't wish on his worse enemy. No one deserved to look like that, especially not someone as happy and adventurous as Duo. He swallowed hard, choking down the bile that rose in the back of his throat as he remembered how Duo looked again. Taking a deep breath, he squared his shoulders slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"How... is he?" he asked softly, wanting to scold himself as his voice hitched with emotions.

"Technical terms or do you want me to lay it on you easy?"

"Just... tell me in a way that I will understand it." Trowa replied.

Sally nodded her head, took a deep breath of her own and glanced at the notes she had on her clipboard. She squared her shoulders, looking back up at Trowa as if trying hard to find a reason not to tell him how bad is was for their found friend.

"His liver is shot. He's going to need a transplant and with his condition as it is, I don't see the donation commitee granting him one." She began, shaking her head sadly.

While Sally told Trowa of the medical diagnoses, no one noticed that Heero had woken up from his sleep. Blue eyes looked around, unsure of where he was. Above his head, a rather shrill voice talked rather incoherently into the speakers. He listened to the garbled nonsense, letting it sink in but didn't really understand what was being said. He remembered why he was here and stood up, his emotions all over the place as images of the condition of the man he found in that room entered his head.

Swallowing, Heero unhooked his ankles and stood. He had to find Duo. He had to see and make sure that he was still alive. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something had happened right under his nose again. He needed to get to a computer to find out what he could about Duo's condition. Especially which room he was in. Looking down the hall to where a nurse was at the registry desk, he began to think of how he could get to that computer in order to use it. He was almost done with a plan when a man dressed in green scrubs walked over to her. The two talked for a few seconds then the woman rose from her chair and followed the man down the other end of the hall.

What luck. Heero quickly made it to the desk and sat before the computer. It took only seconds for him to hack his way into the system and bring up the search bar. He typed in Duo's name, silently praying to himself that he had been admitted in time. The search came up with a name, and a room number. He didn't even bother to log out as he almost ran to the room.

Inside, he found who he was looking for. Or, he believed it was the man that he was looking for. He didn't look anything like his old self. His once beautiful braid of hair was completely shaved off. There was a square bandage on the top of his head that was slightly pinking in the middle. His face was swollen from the abuse he had sustained, especially the right side of his face, which had turned into a horrible purple color. Both his arms were in casts from the elbow down to the fingers, which were in little clamps that doubled as finger casts.

His chest was bound in a cast as well, he could see the starts of it peeking out from under the blanket that was draped over him. He couldn't see much else, there were wires attached to him that lead to a monitor on either side of his bed. He looked so fragile in the bed like that, especially as thin and sickly as he was.

Swallowing hard, Heero made his way over to the bed and sank into a chair beside it. Reaching out, he ran the tip of his finger down the side of his face, wincing at how rough and yellow the sunken face was compared to his finger.

"Duo?" he asked softly, looking at the sleeping form, "Duo. I don't know if you can hear me. I hope you can. I'm so sorry. I should've looked harder for you. I shouldn't have given up. I should've pressed forward. Why didn't I press further than I did? This all happened to you because of me."

The person on the bed remained still and silent. The only sound that could be heard in the nearly empty room was the steady beeping of the monitors. He gently touched the fingers sticking out of the cast of the arm closest to him and swallowed thickly, trying to quel his emotions. This wasn't what he wanted for the other that laid on this bed. He wanted him to be happy. For him to have made a life, not have his taken away like it had been. Sighing, Heero laid his head down beside the arm, being careful not to put any pressure on it.

He laid like that for a while until something stirring caught his attention. Lifting his head, he saw Duo slowly opening his eyes, staring up at the ceiling. Heero felt his heart leap in his chest then sat up, looking at the one violet eye, "Duo?"

"'right... Is so 'right." Duo murmured, turning his head from the lights that hung innocently from the ceiling.

Almost at once, Heero shot out of his chair and turned the lights off for him. Once the room was incased in darkness, he returned to his seat as Duo glanced around. Heero couldn't help but feel a pang of hope as his head turned to him, looking at him with the one good eye.

"Hi, 'Ro..." Duo muttered softly, "What're you... doing here?"

Heero smiled a little, then stood up so Duo didn't have to strain himself to see him, "I'm here to check on you. Make sure that you are okay and comfortable."

"Ah. My body 'urts." Duo murmured, shifting in the bed a little.

"How bad?"

Duo winced, swallowing hard. Before he could even speak the machine attached to him blared to life, sounding a high pitched, rapidly beeping alarm. The heart monitor was going haywire, the heart rate escalating out of control. Duo opened his mouth to cry out but no sound came as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body spammed before it suddenly went limp in the bed, the beeping turning into a long, resounding tone as the heart rate flat lined.

"No! Duo!" Heero cried out.

He felt hands grab him roughtly and push him aside. He stumbled, losing his footing and slammed into the wall near the door. He gathered himself onto his knees, feeling his heart beating wildly in his chest, but there was also a tightness around his lungs. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think. He could only watch as Sally attempted to revive Duo via invasive procedures of liquid adrenaline and anything else but it didn't work.

Heero didn't see them come out but Sally had some how gotten her hands on paddles and had them charging by the time Heero came to realize what they were.

"Clear!" she shouted, the doctors and nurses leaping back as if Duo was a poisonous snake.

Heero could see the bandages that had been wrapped around Duo's chest for his lungs were cut open. The paddles were placed one over the right side of his chest, or rather over his right lung, the other pressed towards the bottom of the left side of Duo's ribcage. He heard the thump of the shock and Duo's body jerked back to life for a few precious seconds. The machine told of two thumps of his heart before it flat lined again. The nurses and doctors attacked him again, pulling wires away and pulling the bandages out of the way as Sally charged the paddles again.

A hand landed on his shoulder and he literally let out a startled yelp. Heero ripped his eyes from the sight and faced the startled expression of a nurse with long, red hair that was tied back in a ponytail.

"Sir, you can't be in here." She said, voice shaking.

"Clear!" Sally shouted behind him.

Heero whipped his head to Sally as the thump sounded in his ears. Duo's body jerked again. There was a pause where it seemed like time stood still as the machine sounded off one weak beat, then two beats, three, four, five...

"We have Sinus rhythm. I want him on another saline drip, and adrenaline until we find out what made his heart stop. Leslie, get Heero out of here."

Heero felt the nurse pull hiim out of the room, only realizing what had happened after the door closed in his face.

"No! What's going on with Duo? Duo!"

"Mr. Yuy, there's nothing you can do. Please, return to the waiting room and Sally will tell you when she knows more." The nurse said, looking at him with sympathy.

Heero felt the hands pull him up and take him back to the waiting room. He didn't remember being handed to Trowa and Zechs, he didn't remember Wufei and Quatre fussing over them. He didn't remember the two sitting him down, or telling them that Duo coded. It was like he was in a dream, just floating, his mouth working against his will. He heard himself say Sally revived him and listened to the barrage of questions he didn't know the answers to before he closed his eyes and remembered no more. The darkness consuming him for the second time that night. His dreams now a nightmare of Duo being completely gone from this world, him being without that light. He couldn't even imagine it, but his nightmares did, and they spared no expense in showing him.


End file.
